I tore my eyes away from the heartwrenching scene in front of me and looked at the remaining hybrid. He growled and clawed at the ground in an attempt to attack, but it seemed that his weight was too much for his arms. Interesting.
"Ashton," I called, drawing Ashton’s attention to me. "We should kill him and leave."
There was no reason to stick around in this place since the people that we needed to capture were gone. I was sure by the blood and gore that stained everyone’s clothes, all the other vampires that may have been here were dead.
"Yeah," Ashton sighed, looking at his brother. "I’ll bring him."
There was lack of any relief when we arrived back at the packhouse. Sure, we had managed to escape and return safely, but at the expense of Antoine's life. It felt like a piece of all of us was gone.Stopping in the entryway, I watched as Ashton led Haidan up the stairs towards her room. Leaving me completely alone to my thoughts.From above I could hear Serenity beginning to cry and immediately wondered if she was somehow aware her father was gone.Deciding that I would comfort her, I made my way upstairs, only stopping in front of Haidan's room long enough to peek in and see her clinging to Ashton while sobbing.Prying my eyes away, I tried to ignore the fear that was beginning to grow within me.When I arrived at Ser
I don't know how it happened, but I found myself bringing Ashton home with me. Maybe I was unnerved or maybe I was more lonely than I thought, but after we finished making sure Haidan and Serenity were both okay, I asked him to stay the night.When we arrived, the entire house was dark. It seemed that Leah wasn't staying up late this evening to play games and in a way I was thankful for that."You okay?" Ashton asked, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist."Yeah."Realizing that I had been standing in place, I began to move.Something about the darkness of my home this particular evening was depressing. Flipping on a switch, I allowed warm light to fill the area in hopes of brightening the mood.
I remained by the door while Ashton rushed forward. Despite his trying to seem calm on the surface, I could feel the relief radiating from him through the mate bond."You asshole." He growled, staring down at Antoine. "Your little trick wasn't funny."My heart tugged as tears began to form in Ashton's eyes. Unable to stand it, I moved forward and wrapped my arms around his waist.Haidan watched us from her place beside Antoine with a smile. It seemed that she was aware of the change in our relationship and was truly happy about it."What?" Ashton asked, flicking his gaze towards her. "Why are you smilin
Rushing over, I knelt down beside Antoine and helped him get his upper body off the floor just as another large boulder came crashing through the wall."Fuck," I hissed, covering Antoine with my body. "What the hell did you think you were doing exactly?""Trying to help." Antoine snapped in annoyance."What help are you on the ground like that?" I asked, pulling him up and helping him back to the bed. "You can’t feel your legs because they’ve temporarily paralyzed you." I sighed.Images of TJ giving Antoine a shot before heading out popped into my head, sending waves of annoyance through me. What
I turned to Antoine, who was watching Ian with a narrowed gaze. It was clear that he didn’t fully trust him, but right now we didn’t have the luxury of doubting."You get going." I commanded, deciding we needed to go ahead and move. "I’ll take this guy to his daughter.""I’m not going!" Antoine argued as I began to pull him forward."I don’t think you have a choice." I pointed out. "We’ll see you soon!"Nodding, Ian turned and jumped out of the gaping hole in the wall behind us, leaving Dion to lead us to Q’s headquarters in the inbetween.
I woke up to the feeling of warmth seeping into my skin. It was all too familiar, and I decided to bask in it a bit more before allowing him to know I woke up."Nice try." Ashton chuckled, realizing immediately that I was faking. "You can open those eyes already."Feeling annoyance rush through me, I did just as Ashton commanded."Happy?" I asked, meeting his gaze. "You completely ruined the moment, you know?""And if this was any other occasion, I would apologize." He laughed, pulling his hand free of mine and bringing it to my cheek. "However, the twins have been extremely worried about you."
I woke the next morning with stiff limbs that felt like they were breaking. Fuck, it seemed that the wolfsbane that was in my system had really done a number. Lifting a hand, I touched my stomach as worry raced through me. If it affected me like this, what did that mean for my child?“What are you doing?” Ashton asked from behind me.Removing my hand, I turned to look into his sleepy eyes that were watching me with curiosity.“Do you think the baby is okay?” I asked, unable to contain my anxiety.“Hm?”Instead of responding, Ashton sat up and began to lean his head towards my stomach. Sucking in a breath, I waited as he laid his ear against my skin. After a moment, a smile crept across his
"Ashton," I murmured, keeping my eyes fixed on the demon's that were leading the way for the massive cloud that was darkening the land. "What is that?""Shit," Ashton hissed in response. "How can this be stopped?" He growled, tightening his hold on Andrew. "TELL ME!""The death of the one with the same blood as the revived!" Andrew cackled with joy.The one revived was King Nigel, that meant the only way to kill him was to kill Brailyn or Haidan."Are you willing to sacrifice your Alpha for the greater cause?"Snapping out of my daze, I looked at Andrew, whose red eyes were watching me."There is another with his blood." I pointed out. "Not just Haidan."
[Leah's POV]I looked around the table at all the smiling faces who were here to celebrate my 21st birthday. Even though I insisted that I didn't want to celebrate because I needed to study for Ian's herbal medicine quiz the next day, Thia insisted. After all, according to her, that was the day that I became a true adult."Auntie Leah," Serenity murmured, fixing her large blue gaze on mine. "Why do you look so unhappy?"For only five, she most certainly was perceptive. However, how could I possibly say that I wasn't happy because the one person I hoped to see here wasn't present?"I'm okay." I murmured, jostling her dark wavy hair that was the exact color of Haidan's. "I'm just tired.""You're lying, auntie." My nephew, Devlin, huffed."Leave your poor auntie alone." Thia snapped, shooting a glare towards her son. "Today is to celebrate, not to interrogate.""But...""No buts, young man." Ashton warned, making his way to the table from the kitchen.As he took his seat beside Thia, I s
[Thia's POV]I stood on the stage, staring out into the crowd of familiar faces and strangers. Today was the day of my ceremony to become luna of Ashton's pack, and I still found myself unable to believe that this was happening. After recovering from Lord Santos' attack and saving the world as we knew it, you would think that I would be happy to be going through something like this. However, it was nerve-wracking and my heart was hammering in my chest.Sweeping my eyes across the crowd of onlookers, I found my siblings standing in the center, smiling. The twins were thrilled that their older sister was being made a 'queen' and Leah was happy to be getting more involved with pack life.Letting out a breath, I looked at Ashton as he made his way towards me. A brilliant smile played on his lips and his eyes were ablaze with delight as he reached out and took my hands for all to see."Don't be nervous. Otherwise you'll stress out Devlin. " Ashton murmured, leaning in close to my ear.As
[Ashton's POV]My heart pounded in my chest as we raced towards the portal that would take us back to our world. For some reason, I had a bad feeling that something was happening there and didn't want Thia to be put in any more danger.When we arrived at the portal, Haidan and Antoine were the first to go through, followed by Asher, leaving only Thia and I."Go!" I called as Thia eyed it. "I'll be right behind you.""But…""What a cute scene."Shit, shifting my gaze from Thia, I looked to where a large man with glowing red eyes and long black hair was making his way towards us."You," Thia growled, seeming to recognize him. "Seems you discovered my escape quicker than I thought.""Go!" I called, grabbing Thia and jumping through the portal.Light swirled around us as wind tore at our skin before we tumbled onto the ground of our hideout in the inbetween."Why did you do that?" Thia hissed, quickly getting to her feet."What's wrong?" Haidan asked Antoine, drawing our attention."Brail
[Thia's POV]I watched with wide eyes as Andrew and Ashton rolled around on the ground. I was having a hard time believing what was directly in front of me and couldn't help but wonder if it was a dream.'Get out of here, Haidan and Antoine are waiting by the window.' Ashton huffed as I remained in place.'I'm not leaving you.'How could he possibly expect me to just up and leave while he was fighting a powerful vampire?Looking around, I tried to find something that could be used as a weapon. When I spotted a torch sitting against the wall, I began to move.I weaved in and out of the bodies that were locked in battle until I reached what I was after. I could only hope it wouldn't be too hard to dislodge without my lycan strength. Reaching up, I wrapped my hands around the smooth wood and began to pull. After a few tugs, it began to move, and then, with a loud crack, it snapped, giving me the perfect edge to do what I had in mind.Turning, I quickly ran back to where I left Andrew an
[Leah's POV]"Have you heard anything yet?" I snapped, stopping in the middle of the room I was currently waiting in with Ian and Dion."Not yet." Dion huffed in annoyance. "Are you going to ask that same question every five minutes?"It had already been almost a day since Asher and the others left to seek the help of the necromancers to help Thia. Initially, I tried to go with them, but the irritating kitsune brothers held me back."I wouldn't have to bother you if you hadn't trapped me." I growled, shooting a glare at Dion. "Blame yourself.""You would have been no help to them." Ian sighed, fixing me with his stoic gaze. "Their mission is dangerous and you aren't even trained to fight."I bit back my response to Ian's dig. Even though I wanted to argue, I knew that he was right. I didn't know the first thing about self-defense after being protected by Thia up until now. Even though I knew, that didn't stop me from wanting to help."Anyway, please take a seat." Ian continued. "You'r
[Ashton's POV]I looked around at the hellish scene in front of me, trying to determine which direction we should go. "We need to wait for the collector." Asher announced as if reading my thoughts."Collector? What the hell is that? " I asked, narrowing my gaze."The one that takes the damned to the demon lord." Asher responded matter-of-factly.Nodding, I turned to the tengu that remained on the ground shaking. It looked like even in death, his soul was still affected by the poison we dosed him."How long do you think til that collector arrives?"Now that we made it into the underworld, I had no interest in wasting time. I didn't know how Thia was and couldn't relax until I saw her."Any minute now.""Over there!" Haidan announced, pointing towards the horizon.Turning, I fixed my gaze on where she pointed and found two cloaked men making their way towards us with a rolling cage."Are we actually going to let them put us in that?" I asked Asher. "How the hell are we supposed to get
I peered around the corner of the building we were currently hiding behind. According to those damn necromancers, our target should be leaving the bar around this time.As much as I hated doing someone's dirty work, I reminded myself that this was for Thia and that I needed to get it done as quickly as possible."If you remain so tense, we will be sensed." Antoine snapped from behind me. "I get you're terrible at being patient, but if we fuck this up, we won't be able to rescue Thia.""I know," I growled, pulling in my aura that I didn't realize was trickling out.Letting out a huff of frustration, I turned away from Antoine and fixed my gaze on the same door we had been watching for the past hour.So far, only overly drunk kitsunes and mages had exited, not the guy we needed to kidnap.Finally, after what felt like eternity, the door opened and out stepped our man.Keeping my gaze ahead, I watched as he looked around while pulling out a cigarette. When he was sure he was alone, he li
[Thia’s POV]I stood in front of a large mirror, taking myself as Martha stood behind me looking smug. She had spent the last hour doing my hair and makeup, and now all that was left was to get dressed.Peering over, I noticed the blood red sequin gown hanging on the wall, as well as the corset perched on a chair beside it."I don’t think that is a good idea." I murmured, pointing to the corset. "It isn’t safe for a pregnant woman, correct?"For a moment, Martha remained quiet, considering my words.
[Ashton's POV]"Don't be such a hostile wolf." The man chuckled, holding his arms out innocently. "See, I am but an old geezer with no motives.""Sorry, Fred." Asher sighed. "He is a little on edge since losing his mate.""Is she the one you need our help locating?" Fred asked, furrowing his thick brows. "Could you tell me what it was she did to offend the lord of the underworld?""It wasn't her." I growled. "Watch your damn mouth!""Ashton!" Haidan hissed, shooting me a look of disapproval.