So Jasper IS after the money, but Brogan seems to want Kennedy.
KennedyAfter a grueling evening of scraping injuries and cleaning out silver from wounds, I felt exhausted.When the last warrior left, I checked with Deborah and told her to head to bed. I have no idea how late it is, I just know that I’m exhausted. I finish cleaning up and check the room Deborah was working in before walking out to the main entrance. I’m turning off lights as I go, barely able to keep myself standing when I smell him.“You look exhausted.”I look up and see my mate in the dim light of the waiting room.“What are you doing here?” I ask.“Waiting for you. I thought you’d be done earlier but when I got here, there were still several warriors who needed to be seen.”“A lot of them came in tonight. I was surprised, but glad,” I tell him.His eyes narrow and he takes my hand, pulling it to him and looking at my palm.“Why do you have a wound that isn’t healed?”I shrug, not sure I can talk about it without breaking down. I’m too tired right now.He looks at me, then back
QuirinI feel like the darkness is moving in on me again. It feels like nothing that I say to Kennedy is right. I’m trying to be understanding, but she needs to understand that her father killed people, people that were important to the members of this pack. You don’t just get over that, no matter how many years it’s been.I wasn’t surprised that so many of our warriors had asked to accept her as their Luna early. I was, however, surprised to see them waiting for her when we came downstairs. I hadn’t realized that my pack members were starting to have problems with their wolves. Or actually, that the wolves were starting to feel incompetent.‘I would have eventually felt that way too,’ Raif says, watching the warriors talk to Kennedy. ‘Since the silver was weak enough that we didn’t realize that’s what was impacting our ability to heal, I can understand why the wolves were starting to second guess themselves. It would definitely put a wedge in the relationship because no matter what yo
KennedyI’m not sure how I feel about becoming this pack’s Luna. On the one hand, I feel like the pack, or at least some of the pack members, are starting to trust me and believe in me. On the other hand, I still have a mate who says he’ll try to listen to me but doesn’t.I don’t give a crap about how Arlo treats me. I can handle him. But I worry about Christy and I worry about him being let out before my Luna ceremony. What if he tries to hurt someone that I love, someone in my family? I don’t see Arlo being the kind of man who forgives and forgets. Of course, my mate doesn’t seem to be that kind of man either, but I trust him to keep the peace for me.I’ve been pleasantly surprised that several warriors changed their mind about leaving and this morning, while I expected that many would leave, it wasn’t as many as I thought. Some who hadn’t come to speak with me had decided to stay on their own. It felt like each warrior who decided to stay was a win for me.Quirin stood at my side wh
QuirinI know the next few days are going to be difficult for me. For Kennedy, I need to be pleasant and even welcoming to Alpha Warren and Alpha Connor. But the way I’ve been feeling, the darkness starting to settle back into my mind and body, I knew it was going to be hard for me.However, the moment I saw Kennedy get out of the shower, I knew what I needed. I need her light, her shining brightness to push the darkness away.It was fun watching my mate watch herself and sexy as fuck to watch her come undone. I know how beautiful she is when she comes, but I wanted her to see it too. I hadn’t expected her to tell me that it was sexy when I came. I don’t know what it looks like to her, but to me, it’s like my body is blasted with her light, warm and loving. My darkness is slayed by the bright knights of her light. It’s fucking nirvana every time I’m inside her.It's been a few days since we’ve been together, and I almost forget how light I feel after I’m with her. It’s like the weight
KennedyWhen we walk upstairs to show Harold and Farrah to their room, my sisters and brothers have already taken over the Beta floor.“Oh, Kier, I’m so sorry,” I say watching them act in a normal way for them, but in a very rambunctious way in this pack.“Are you kidding? It’s great!” he says. "I never had laughter like this is my first pack and we don’t have it here. It’s … loud, but good.”“Alpha Henry!” my sisters and brothers cry all racing over to hug him until they see Harold and Farrah. “Alpha Harrold! Luna Farrah!” Then they divide and conquer, rushing to give all of them hugs. Henry ruffles their hair, while Harold and Farrah ask them questions about their life and what’s been going on with them since they last talked.“Aww, Henry! I just brushed my hair! What if my mate is in this pack and this is the first impression I make on him,” my sister Wendy whines, smoothing out the hair that Henry just ruffled.“If your mate is in this pack, neither of you will know it for three mo
WarrenI’ve never been to Quirin’s pack. I’ve never been invited to come for a visit, a meeting, a battle, nothing. When we stepped out of the car, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Now that I’ve gotten a taste for the feel of this pack, I’m even more worried about my daughter. I know she’s always liked Quirin, which is odd, since he’s anything BUT likeable. But being here, I realize just what a struggle it must be for her.I’m not sure how I feel about their scents being so strong on each other. On the one hand, I’m glad that they seem to be getting along together. After barely smelling them on each other last weekend, I was concerned. On the other hand, she’s my little girl and I’m struggling to come to terms with the fact that she’s now a grown woman.Quirin has always been closed off, a dark, depressed man. But seeing him now, he seems almost happy. Well, as happy as a man like Quirin can be. I’m pretty sure he actually smiled, or it seemed like he smiled. It was the closest thing that
YaraAfter returning to the packhouse, I watched my daughter and Quirin. I know my mate struggles with him being Kennedy’s mate. He and Quirin have never had a good relationship. I’m not sure they ever will. But as long as they can be civil to each other for Kennedy’s sake, that’s all that matters to me.My relationship with Quirin is different than Warren's. He’s always been much more kind and gentle with me than he has been with Warren. I have no doubt that it’s because he feels indebted to me for saving his life, but it’s given me an insight into a side of Quirin that not many people see. There is a kindness, a desire to please, and I believe, a deep-seated need to love and be loved in side of Quirin. I think he has the ability to love, but I also believe that he didn’t have the best role model for a father. The man was willing to give up his chosen mate and Luna to take me as his Luna. There is no one in the world that could ever take my place in Warren’s life, heart, or bed. So, w
QuirinI have no idea what to make of Kennedy’s family. They harassed her relentlessly all evening long. I would have stepped in, but no one seemed bothered by it, not even Kennedy. I mean, she didn’t seem to like hearing the embarrassing stories about herself, but she gave it back as much as she got. Even Henry seemed to enjoy the bantering and Kennedy’s siblings had no problem including him in their teasing.I wonder if this is what a family, a real family is supposed to feel like. I have no doubt that if anyone attacked any one of them, they’d give their lives for each other, even the youngest two. But they have no problem attacking each other verbally and laughing at each other’s expense. I’ll admit, there were some pretty funny stories, but I refused to laugh at my mate, no matter how much she didn’t seem to mind the others laughing at her.After watching Henry run around with a younger twin under each arm, holding them sideways and bouncing them until they were squealing at dog w
Yorick‘Smell anything, Thad?’ I ask my wolf. I’m still in bed on this, my eighteenth birthday. I didn’t expect that my mate would be here, there’s nothing for me here in this pack, but I figured I’d better make sure.‘I would have smelled her last night if she was here,’ he says.That’s true. I guess she could be in Kennedy’s pack, but somehow, I doubt it. I’ve known for a while that my place wasn’t in either of my older siblings’ packs. I’m an Alpha wolf with an older brother who has taken over our pack. My father’s Beta and his mate have a son who has already taken over as my brother’s Beta and the same is true for our Gamma. There’s no place, no position for me in Connor’s pack.I could probably petition Quirin for is Gamma position. He’s been talking about needing to fill it and now that his life is full of pups, he needs the help, but it’s not what I want.‘We’ve made our decision,’ Thad says.We have, we just haven’t told anyone yet. I’m not sure how they will react and I’m not
QuirinTwo Years LaterI sigh with happiness, or actually, Raif sighs with happiness as we lay on the back patio with our four daughters. Just as Kennedy had hoped, there was one set of twins that looked like me and one that looked like her. We’d named them accordingly with the ones who looked like me being named Quinlee and Quilla and the twins who look like my beautiful mate named Kaylee and Kendra. What we didn’t know is how deceptive looks can be. The daughters who carry my looks are sweet and gentle like their mother. The ones who look like Kennedy have my little hellion personality.Currently, all four of them are surrounding Raif in one way or another. I’ve decided that Kendra, who was the one with the cord around her neck, was Kennedy’s little rib-kicker while she was in utero. She’s currently on Raif’s back, kicking him as hard as she can, telling him to giddy-up. Instead of getting up, he lifts his head and shakes, forcing her to hold on tight as she squeals in delight.“No,
KennedyRaif continues to purr as we walk to the hospital, and I lean my head on Quirin’s shoulder.“Are you scared?” I ask him quietly.“Terrified. As excited as I am to meet our daughters, I’ve only felt fear like this once before in my life and that’s when you were taken.”I chuckle, but the movement sends a jolt of pain through my stomach so I stop.Quirin presses a kiss to the side of my head as we walk into the hospital and straight to what he calls the ‘Kennedy Suite’. I will say, Mom is absolutely prepared for my babies to arrive. There are four bassinets, waiting to be filled, a larger than normal counter with multiple areas to bathe, measure, and weigh my little ones and all the equipment mom thinks we might need in case any of our pups or I go into distress during delivery.Quirin and I are very familiar with the procedure of me getting checked, so he hooks up the heart monitors over my stomach while mom prepares to check me. This might be my favorite part of the day, watchi
KennedyI watch as my mate sits on the edge of the bed, patiently smiling at me. He’s rubbing my belly that is huge with four pups. There’s so little space in my stomach that you can see their butts or heads or sometimes their feet when they kick out because there’s just not enough room in there.My little stomach-extenders obviously love their father more than they love me because they stop shifting around so he can touch them. Raif is purring loud enough to practically bring down the rafters in our bedroom and somehow my pups don’t seem to care that I’M the one who is just as uncomfortable as they are.Echo hasn’t gotten any stronger during my pregnancy and I’m not surprised. As soon as my Alpha pups started getting too jammed up in my stomach, they started kicking; kicking my bladder, kicking my kidneys, and kicking my ribs, sometimes hard enough to crack them. Obviously at least one of them has her father’s strength.‘What can we do to help you?’ Quirin asks in my mind so I can hea
QuirinAlpha Warren and I had walked the pack lands, testing the soil, finding the spots where there is the heaviest concentration of silver and the areas that are most important to clean up. He and I came up with a plan based on the most heavily trafficked areas in the pack, the places were pups were likely to be, and then the heaviest concentration of silver.He began working on it right away, and I’ve never been so happy to have Warren in my pack. With everything going on, I need to be focused on Kennedy and my pups, not worrying about Jasper’s silver contamination.However, Warren did tell me that he and Yara would like a house of their own. So we found a spot where the two of them wanted to build and added that the first part of clean up so we can break ground on their home. Until then, they are on our Gamma floor.I can’t say I’m getting used to the noise that constantly seems to come from that floor, but I will say that it feels like good practice for me.Today, however, Kennedy
Kennedy“Hi Henry,” I say, hearing Quirin growling low in his chest at Henry’s teasing.“Ah, shit. I’m not interrupting you two in bed, am I?” I hear him ask, although I'm pretty sure he snickered. He's obviously enjoying himself.“Do you really think I would have answered the fucking phone if I was in bed with my mate?”“You might have, if you were worried about me,” he says.“Did you call just to harass me?” Quirin asks.“Well, mostly yes, but I did call to check on Kennedy,” he says.“My mate is perfectly fine. Her mother is here to make sure that her pregnancy and delivery are going well and Echo made her reappearance again this morning,” he says, smiling down at me.“That’s awesome, Kennedy. I’m so glad to hear that. But really, I was calling to make sure you have a safe word.”“A safe word?” I ask and Quirin starts growling, louder this time.“Yeah, you know, in case Quirin keeps you locked to the bed because of his voracious need for you and you can’t get away even to use the ba
QuirinI meant what I said to Kennedy. I could live forever in her beautiful mind, surrounded by her love and light. Opening myself to her has made the tightness that has always constricted my heart snap. I feel free, light, and oh so happy. It’s an unfamiliar feeling, but one that I want to feel forever.Waking up with her warm, soft body tucked against mine, her sleepy consciousness in my head is the best way to wake up. That is, until Raif and I hear Echo’s weak voice. If I’d been standing up, I think Raif would have tossed me to the ground in his excitement to get to his mate. But as rough as he was with me, he’s nothing but gentle with her. In our shared mind space, he carefully walks to his mate and lays beside her, curling himself around her protectively. She licks his face briefly before laying her head back down. Raif begins purring at her and she sighs contentedly.“She’s back,” Kennedy whispers and I can hear the teary happiness in her voice.“Yes, she is. She’s a strong wol
KennedyAs Quirin carries me back to the packhouse, I open my mind to him and Raif, and also to Echo.‘Echo, if you can hear me, we love you. We know you’re taking care of our babies and being the excellent mother that you are. But Raif is here, Quirin is here. They will help protect our babies. You need to get strong, my wolf. I miss you,’ I tell her.Raif begins purring in both our mind and out loud. I can feel Echo fluttering in my mind, responding to the gentle call of her mate. This is what Mom told me to try. Echo will want to please her mate, to be with him again, so having Raif in my mind and helping Echo connect to him may help to strengthen her.‘I’m willing to take as much time as my mate needs to help her gain her strength again,’ Raif says. “I already knew she’d be the perfect mother to my pups, and she hasn’t disappointed me. But you need your strength, my love. I want to feel you in my mind too,' he says to her.I can almost feel Echo laying down in my mind, her own soft
QuirinI come awake feeling disoriented. Something is wrong, or ... not wrong, just off? Unexpected? What the fuck? I’m never this disoriented. And why is my bed so fucking hard? And where is my mate? I can smell her. She’s nearby.I force my eyes to open and immediately wince as the light above me shines in my eyes. Why is there a light above me? Where the fuck am I?“There he is.” I hear Luna Yara say and a moment later she’s beside me. I know this positioning. I’m in a hospital. Am I still recovering from the bear attack? No, that can’t be right. I didn’t just dream my life, did I?“Where’s Kennedy?” I ask, more harshly than is necessary.“Bathroom. She’ll be right back. How are you feeling?” she asks me.I feel fine, just disoriented.“Why am I in the hospital?” I ask, realizing that I don’t feel like I have any injuries, and I’m completely dressed except for my shoes.“What do you remember, Quirin?” she asks me in her gentle way.“Hey,” I hear my mate’s sweet voice. In a quick mot