What did you think of the Luna ceremony?
KennedyThis is the second time that the howls of alarm have gone up since I arrived at this pack. The third since my birthday. Back at home, we rarely had anyone attack our pack, maybe three times in my life. But now, it seems that Quirin’s pack is always under attack.“Get to a safe room, Kennedy,” Quirin says, leaping out of bed and throwing our door open before leaping over the banister and shifting on his way to the first floor. My father, brother, Henry, Alpha Harold, and Farrah follow right behind them.I quickly get dressed and rush outside to see my mother and Madison rushing down the hall.“Madison?” I ask. She’s a warrior, used to fighting, so I’m surprised that she’s stayed behind.“Connor is worried that I might be pregnant and if there’s silver powder ...”“It could injure the pup. Good thinking,” my mother says.“Come on, I’ll show you where the safe rooms are. We can get the twins and Yana on our way downstairs,” I say. I know that Yorick and most likely Wendy will have
Brogan“I thought you said you’d been attacking them weekly?” I bark at Jasper as I wash my hands again. What the fuck does Quirin have on his pack lands?“We have been. You and I just attacked them last week. And I didn’t know her whole fucking family was going to be there. I thought it would just be Henry and Connor. I wasn’t expecting Warren, the second son, and Harold.”“I swear if you’re yanking my chain about this money,” I growl, although it’s not just about the money now. I saw her. Kennedy. She’s even more ripe than I remember.The other thing I realized is that, unlike most of her family, she’s not a fighter. The guard had started fighting and she and her mother stood back and watched. Any fighter would have jumped in and helped him fight. That just means it will be easier for me to get her and keep her once I have my hands on her.“Look, he’s loaded, okay. The only reason they seemed so strong was because there were five Alphas fighting, well, technically six, but my Beta to
Kier POV“You’re injured again,” Arianna says, looking me over. Her hands are gently skirting over my body as if she’s using her fingers to check what her eyes are seeing. Since my body is starting to respond, even with the pain that I’m in, I grab her hands and pull them to my chest.“Rowd says he can’t heal some of these wounds, so I need to go see Kennedy,” I say, expecting her to step aside, or maybe to encourage me to go. Instead, she stands there, her eyes focused on my chest.“Arianna? What’s going on in that head of yours?”She doesn’t answer and when I smell the salt of tears, I tilt her head up to look at me. “What is it?” I ask gently.“I’m so afraid,” she says, her voice shaking with her attempt to control her emotions.“Afraid of what, baby?” I ask and gently swipe the tear that begins to fall down her cheek.“Of losing you in one of these attacks,” she whispers.“Hey. Hey,” I say, pulling her against me. I know I’m naked and dirty from the battle, but I don’t like her cry
QuirinI knew Wendy must have been badly injured for Henry to be so distraught and for Luna Yara to have lost her carefully maintained control. But I had no idea that my mate would be able to save her. I was sure she would try, but I didn't know that she would be in surgery for eight fucking hours and somehow manage to save her sister’s life.I’ve once again managed to underestimate my mate. I don’t know how I keep doing it, but here I am. Again.As I carefully strip off her clothes, I think about what she said, that I don’t like her father. Alpha Warren and Alpha Connor didn’t hesitate to answer the call of attack. Alpha Warren landed on the first floor immediately after I did. Yorick and Kier had leaped at the same time I did and I’d had to twist mid-air to avoid colliding with them. Their family didn’t hesitate to enter the fight, even though this isn’t their battle, and they nearly lost their daughter because of it. I'm not sure how to feel about them protecting my pack as if it we
KennedyI slept until late in the morning the next day. Surprisingly, so did Quirin. Or at least, he was still in bed when I woke up.The moment I stirred, I felt his lips press against the top of my head. “Did you sleep well, Little Pup?”I shift. My body is still sore as the memory of last night returns to me.“Wendy...” I say, starting to get out of bed.“She’s awake. Kier told me that Henry went to stay with her while your parents came to get some food and before they’d finished eating, Alpha Harold came to get your mom, letting her know that Wendy was awake.”I feel him press his lips to my head again. It’s so unusual for my active mate to just lie here in bed with me that I assume we’re about to have the ‘talk’ of me not going to the safe room.“You scared the shit out of me yesterday,” he says softly. “When I realized that you weren’t in a safe room, that you were exposed to the fighting, I struggled to focus on the fight. And then, I saw Wendy in Henry’s arms. She was awake but
QuirinI need to be inside my mate. I know her family is here, I know that this might be a little more than she expects, but knowing that she had no idea how wealthy this pack is, hearing her say that she would have wanted me even if I was poor, the fear of losing her that I experienced yesterday, it’s all combining into an uncontrollable, desperate need for her.I stand, setting her on her feet then I go to the door and lock it before turning around to look at her.“Quirin?”“I need you, Kennedy. I need you right now,” I say and even I can hear the desperation in my voice.She looks around. “Where?”I growl, happiness bubbling up inside me. I can already feel the darkness inside me quivering in expectation of her light. She doesn’t care that I’m desperate for her, she’s just naïve as to where and how I’ll take her in my office.I watch her grey-green eyes darken as I prowl toward her. Instead of telling her, I walk to her, turning her in front of me then pushing her forward.“Hands on
KennedyWendy needed another night in the hospital. Between all of us, we made sure that she was never alone. I was surprised that Henry also wanted to spend time with her, choosing to stay behind even when Alpha Harold and Luna Farrah returned to their pack.Connor and Madison returned to the pack the same day as Harold and Farrah, needing to make sure that everything was in order, and Yorick chose to return with them. The following day, my parents carefully packed Wendy into the car and I hugged my family goodbye.“Next time I’m here, I hope to see a fully functional hospital,” my mother said smiling. She and I talked about my conversation with Quirin. She hugged me, telling me that communication is very important in a relationship. I know she’s right. Now I just need to convince my mate that he needs to listen to me. Of course, my mother told me that I need to do a better job of communicating as well. I guess Quirin and I both have work to do.Later that night, the others returned b
QuirinI was intending to have lunch with Kennedy, but instead I walked into the Arlo and Slater shitshow. If Arlo had made a move on Kier or anyone else, I would have killed him. As it is, it took everything in me to not kill Slater. I’m going to give myself time before going down to the cells because I’m ready to kill him. I heard what he said before Kier knocked him out and I was seeing red. He’s truly lucky that my mate was there to help calm me or I might have killed the entire group. I don’t fucking care if I have a pack of three as long as those three are people who care about my mate.“Christopher!” I bark. I’ve been sitting in my office trying to control my emotions and my fury so I didn’t start killing everyone. Holding on to Kennedy as we walked out of the pack hospital had served two goals for me. It has helped to calm the fury inside me and it had ensured that she was safe and away from those who apparently don’t realize that they will respect her as their Luna or they can
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