I didn't realize that Bradley had so much to say, so you get two chapters, both in his POV today.
**Trigger Warning: ViolenceBradleyToday is the pack ceremony and Trena has agreed to join our pack. I’m thrilled that she’s comfortable enough to join our pack, and I’m hoping that means that she’s comfortable enough with me to remain here knowing that we’re mates. It gives me hope that we’ll have a future together.We go for two walks before the celebration begins. She’s quiet, but she does let me steal a few kisses. When it’s time for the ceremony, she and I stand side by side and when it’s time for me to go forward to recommit to my ranked members and the pack, she comes with me.After Alpha Warren and Beta Charlie announce that our Luna and Beta female are pregnant, the pack howls and I do as well, excited for the good things that are happening in our pack. Trena, however, remains quiet.“What’s on your mind, beautiful?” I ask her, leading her away from the party.“This is all a bit overwhelming for me right now. I think I’m going to go to my room,” she says.“Do you want me to g
WarrenThe first thing I did when I woke with Yara the next morning was to open my mind to the pack. The feeling of love, contentment, and family is stronger than I’ve ever felt in my life, even when my parents were alive.Keeping my mind open to the pack, I slide my hand over my mate’s still-flat stomach, knowing that my pup is growing inside. Yara told me that it was still too soon to tell if our pup is a boy or girl, but she’s going to keep checking until she knows. Since Savannah will be here soon, maybe I’ll get my answer then.Today is another important day. First, Simon’s life ends. That is primary. But before that I need to check on his pack. I close the link to the pack and slowly begin to wake my mate. We were up late last night and I know she’s carrying my pup, but it’s time for us to get going. Harold, Henry, and Farrah are leaving to go see Quirin and Yasmin today, and I don’t want to make them wait too long before they head out.So I slowly tease my mate until she’s awake
HaynesAs we drive to Simon’s pack, I look over at my mate. She’s staring out the window and I can feel her nervousness through our bond.“What’s on your mind, beautiful?”She turns and looks at me, smiling bashfully. She’s used to worrying on her own without anyone noticing or caring. She’s still struggling with me being in her mind, constantly focused on her thoughts and emotions. She loves it when we’re in bed together, but at times like this, she forgets, and I think it embarrasses her to get caught.“Have you ever done anything like this before?” she asks me.“Nope, I’ve never been a Gamma before. Just a warrior, like you.”She turns, looking back out the window.“You didn’t answer my question,” I say. I’m glad that it’s just us. I wouldn’t be so direct if there were others in the van with us. But since we had to bring so many vans, we doubled up and I made sure that my mate came with me.“How do you know we won’t be attacked when we arrive?” she asks.I shrug. “I don’t. We might,
Harold“What are you expecting to find when we get there?” Farrah asks me as we drive to Quinton’s old pack. She and I are taking it very slow, mostly for her but also partly because of Henry. I want him to accept Farrah, not as a replacement for his mother, but as a mother figure in his life. It’s something he hasn’t had but has desperately needed. I've done my best, but there's a reason that an Alpha needs a Luna.I’d noticed that Henry had accepted Farrah's touch when we’d watched Warren execute Simon. I’d seen his shock at the state that Simon was in when they brought him out. I was glad that Warren had spoken to him ahead of time, letting him know that this isn’t the norm for his pack. Farrah’s instinct, the instinct of a Luna and a mother, had been to help support him while he watched. My heart had soared with my pride in both of them, at her offer of support and his acceptance of it. Now that Farrah has accepted me as her Alpha, she’d felt the emotions in me. I don’t close my mi
YaraThe pack has been preparing for war. I insisted on completing physicals on all of our pack’s warriors to ensure that they are healthy and able to fight. It also worked out that two warriors who didn’t know, found out that they were pregnant and are now required to remain in the pack. Apparently all the celebrating that we’ve been doing means more pups in our pack. As long as it doesn’t cause problems with mate bonds, I’m thrilled.When Harold returns with his warriors, I’m excited to see Savannah again.“Savannah!” I say, rushing to hug her when I see her. I see that Warren has followed her over to the pack hospital, and I know it’s because he loves seeing me happy. It’s not like Savannah doesn’t know her way to the hospital.“It’s good to see you, Luna! Although, I wish it was under better circumstances,” she says, hugging me tightly.“How are you?” I ask her, looking over at my mate and giving him a big, happy smile. The one I know he’s been waiting for. He winks at me and turns
WarrenTwo? Did she say two pups?I hear the sounds of the pack cheering around us, but I’m focused on my mate’s beautiful face and her smug smile.“We’re having twins?”“Mhmm,” she answers, her fingers running through my hair and sending shivers all over my body.“Boys? Girls? One of each?” I ask.“One of each. But don’t think that gets you out of pup duty for the rest of your life. You promised to give me as many as I wanted,” she says, grinning up at me."I always keep my promises," I growl. It's a happy, possessive growl as I lean in and take her mouth in a dominant kiss, pouring all of my love for this incredible woman into it.‘How many pack members do we have to threaten to keep their sons away from our little girl,’ Arric growls, already feeling possessive of his pups.‘She’ll have her brother to keep them away,’ I say as an image of Henry watching Harold enters my mind. Only this time, it’s MY son and he’s watching ME, learning to be a good Alpha from me.I deepen the kiss eve
WarrenAfter dinner, I take her upstairs so we can celebrate properly. I don’t spend the hours that I want to with my mate, but when I return, I’ll make it up to her.I’m up before dawn the next morning, Arric and I ready for battle. I shower quickly, letting my mate sleep in. I know that soon enough, she’ll be overwhelmed in the hospital.When I get out of the shower, she’s sitting up in bed. The sheet is laying across her lap, but her breasts are bare for my view. Any other morning, I’d be crawling back into bed. But today, my mind stays focused on the battle ahead.“Why don’t you go back to sleep, baby? We’ll be sending warriors back to you soon enough,” I tell her.She shakes her head. “I’m coming down to see everyone off. I want our warriors to know that I love them and I’m here if and when they are brought back.”I go to her, kissing her deeply, drawing strength for what I have to do today. I know it’s a possibility that we’ll lose warriors. I hate it, hate it even more than I us
YaraWe only had a couple of hours before the injured started coming in. The first thing I realize is that every single one of them has splinters all over them. Because they blew the bombs with wood, they’ve all been hit with various sizes and amounts of debris.“Make sure you get every piece of wood out of them. If you don’t, they’ll become infected. Warriors, you need to let my team know if you feel pain somewhere so we can get all these wood pieces out of you. If we don’t and you get an infection, I’ll pull you from duty until you’re healed.”“Yes, Luna,” they say with varying degrees of strength in their voice.Savannah and I begin doing triage and I take the worst ones while she takes the ones that she can handle.The first group that comes in have large pieces of tree that punctured through them. I’m guessing others did as well, but this group couldn’t pull these pieces out without causing more damage to their bodies. I take the one with a large piece of wood in the thigh, and Sa
One Year LaterQuirin“Come on, Quirin! You can punch harder than that,” Henry, my best friend and closest thing that I have to a brother, says to me.“It’s your birthday, Henry. I don’t want to make you cry before we celebrate your big day,” I taunt.Where Henry is a shining star of happiness, I’m a black cloud of anger. Being around him helps to keep the darkness at bay, but no one can remove the darkness that has consumed me since the day that I watched my father die.I had planned my revenge on Alpha Warren for years, had intended to take everything that he loved from him. But all that changed a year ago when his mate saved my life. Not only had she saved my life, she’d insisted that I live. She, like Henry, had a bright golden light that shines around her. She’d taken my face in her hands and told me that I wasn’t allowed to die. I had been ready to die, ready to give up the grief that I’ve held so deep in my heart, but she wouldn’t allow it. How that woman saved my life is beyon
Five Years LaterYaraIf you had asked me six years ago what my life would look like now, I’m not sure I would have ever imagined this. My life is filled with love, happiness, work, school, the pack, and most importantly, family.My mate is as perfect a father as I knew he would be. He LOVES being a father and I love watching him with our pups. I never thought I could love that man more than I did, but seeing him being the incredible father that he is with our pups, I’ve just kept falling more deeply in love with him and wanting to give him more pups. After the twins, we decided to wait a bit. Our original plan was to wait a few years while we adjusted to being parents to two babies. Warren wanted to focus on getting the pack financially stable and increasing the pack’s income and I wanted to focus on going back to school and turning our hospital into a teaching hospital.It took about six months of negotiation with the closest werewolf university and a lot of conversations with their
WarrenIt’s been several months since we killed Brady and Dr. Stephens. It took a while, but the pack has settled into what I guess is a more normal routine. We spar, we run patrols, Charlie and I run the pack, Yara and Noelle run the hospital, Haynes and Laney train and manage the warriors.Now that life has settled down, our pack is having a baby boom. I’m pretty sure every one of my mated she-wolves is pregnant and some who aren’t mated are pregnant as well. Yara and I talked about that and we’ve agreed that if both parents are fine with remaining unmated, they can. The ones who don’t agree, have to speak to both of us so we can come to a resolution. Thankfully, now that we’re having pack gatherings with Alpha Harold and his pack, there are fewer unmated adult men and women in our pack.Today, Yara is in the pack hospital making last minute preparations before our twins come. I’m watching Charlie and Haynes working with Carson. It’s been a long, grueling road for him. He’s struggled
AnnaWhen the pack came back after attacking Alpha Brady’s pack, they brought Dr. Stephens with them.Dr. Stephens, the man I have despised ever since I started working in the hospital. All of us, the nurses, knew that he was hurting our pack, but there was very little we could do about it. At the time, we were in a constant state of war. We could barely keep the pack going in between battles, and Dr. Stephens had been part of that problem.We’d all turned to Savannah. She was younger than Erika and Katie, but she had more medical experience. Without any conscious discussion about it, we had all deferred to her when we questioned Dr. Stephens' methods. Goddess knows, you never questioned him to his face. He’d berate you in front of anyone and everyone in the room. He was a horrible man for so many reasons.As I stare at the man, who is currently on his knees in front of Alpha Warren, I remember the day I lost the man that I’m pretty sure was my mate. I was almost eighteen. I had actual
WarrenAfter making love to my mate for hours and sleeping off the exhaustion of the battle, I wake up feeling fantastic. While I slept, Arric healed what was left of my wounds, my mate is safe, happy, and pregnant with my pups, and all that’s left is Dr. Stephens who is currently residing in my cells.There’s one more thing that I need to take care of before I deal with Dr. Stephens, and that’s Carson. Yara told me that he wanted to die when he came in. I understand his fear. Not having a place in a pack is a terrible feeling for pack members. While we get ready this morning, Yara and I talk about the options and how we can possibly keep him running patrols. She explains to me about prosthetics and that it will take modifications on our part and his, but once he and his wolf gets used to wearing one, they can continue to remain at warrior status and help defend the pack.But before that, we need to say goodbye to our allies and send them off.When we get downstairs, the feeling in the
YaraThe flow of warriors coming into the hospital finally starts to slow down. When we get one warrior with a spike through his foot, he tells us that they’ve breached the packhouse and the battle is winding down. I’ve periodically felt Warren’s emotions, his pain, but nothing that my mate and his wolf can’t handle.Now that it’s settling down, the fatigue of the day and night is starting to set in. But I know I won’t be able to sleep until my mate is home and I’ve checked him over.I’m still working with the warrior who got the spike through his foot, holding his bones in place while his wolf starts the healing process when I hear a commotion out in the front.“They’re back, Luna,” Savannah says, coming into the room.“Go, Noelle. Go check on Charlie. I’ll be out as soon as I’m done here,” I tell her. She and Savannah rush out of the room.“You should go too, Luna,” the warrior says.“I will, once the bones in your foot are back in place,” I tell him, putting another one together and
WarrenAs expected, we ended up having to send a large group of warriors back as soon as we blew the bombs. I’d heard Carson screaming in my head and told some of my warriors with minimal injuries to get him to Yara as quickly as possible. I have to hope that my mate can work the miracles she always seems to and because I know she’ll do everything she can, I remain focused on the battle.It’s been long enough since they last attacked my pack, that Brady’s warriors are healed. But Franklin and Harold’s men severely decimated their numbers. Even with the number of wolves that we’re having to send back to the pack, we’re still outnumbering them. Add to that, we have two Alphas and two Betas leading this attack on four fronts and it doesn’t take Arric long to get to the packhouse. I send half of the warriors i my group to help the others as I prepare to enter the packhouse. With Brady, you never know what types of traps he’s set.‘Alpha, Franklin and I have Alpha Brady. Do you want us to k
YaraWe only had a couple of hours before the injured started coming in. The first thing I realize is that every single one of them has splinters all over them. Because they blew the bombs with wood, they’ve all been hit with various sizes and amounts of debris.“Make sure you get every piece of wood out of them. If you don’t, they’ll become infected. Warriors, you need to let my team know if you feel pain somewhere so we can get all these wood pieces out of you. If we don’t and you get an infection, I’ll pull you from duty until you’re healed.”“Yes, Luna,” they say with varying degrees of strength in their voice.Savannah and I begin doing triage and I take the worst ones while she takes the ones that she can handle.The first group that comes in have large pieces of tree that punctured through them. I’m guessing others did as well, but this group couldn’t pull these pieces out without causing more damage to their bodies. I take the one with a large piece of wood in the thigh, and Sa
WarrenAfter dinner, I take her upstairs so we can celebrate properly. I don’t spend the hours that I want to with my mate, but when I return, I’ll make it up to her.I’m up before dawn the next morning, Arric and I ready for battle. I shower quickly, letting my mate sleep in. I know that soon enough, she’ll be overwhelmed in the hospital.When I get out of the shower, she’s sitting up in bed. The sheet is laying across her lap, but her breasts are bare for my view. Any other morning, I’d be crawling back into bed. But today, my mind stays focused on the battle ahead.“Why don’t you go back to sleep, baby? We’ll be sending warriors back to you soon enough,” I tell her.She shakes her head. “I’m coming down to see everyone off. I want our warriors to know that I love them and I’m here if and when they are brought back.”I go to her, kissing her deeply, drawing strength for what I have to do today. I know it’s a possibility that we’ll lose warriors. I hate it, hate it even more than I us