“Xavier, I am parched. Can you please get me some water?” I spoke low, trying to be sultry but not even sure what that sounded like. I felt ridiculous but decided to add some touch and I placed my hand on his shoulder as I spoke.
“Of course.” He got up quickly and went to the house. He came back out and handed me a bottle of water.
“Thank you.” I turned to Xavier as he sat back down. “Will you walk with me?” I stood and extended my hand to him, encouraging him to get back up. He rose quickly and grabbed my hand. I pulled him across the training field, toward the tree line. I didn’t intend to walk into the trees, but rather along the line.
I looked back as I walk with Xavier and saw Damien, standing wide eyed, clearly uncertain as to what to make out of what was happening.
I don’t say anything as I turned and looked at Xavier as we have approached the tree line. As I had been walking with Xa
The sound of birds chirping outside made me almost forget where I was. The sounds were peaceful, but I was anywhere but someplace peaceful. I would be remiss to say that I wasn’t disappointed that Alpha Callan hadn’t arrived. Deep in my heart I was hoping that they would have arrived sometime overnight.I laid in bed, contemplating the situation that I was in. I knew that I had demonstrated too many abilities yesterday and Xavier would be expecting more. I filled with dread as I thought about what Xavier had planned. I also wondered how he planned to force me to engage these abilities. I clearly was capable of not using the abilities. As a gained more knowledge about the abilities and skills, it was clear that I would be able to control the use of the abilities. I already did that in many ways. I wasn’t constantly emoting or causing emoting in others.I pondered my plan for today. There was no way that I was going to give Xavier the demons
“STOP!” I yelled. Both stopped fighting and the extent of their injuries was clear. Sadness and regret suddenly washed over me and I had to sit back down. Ben was more injured, with two black eyes, a busted lip, and bruises across his chest. Stephen was not much better. Ben could barely stand and stumbled backwards. My own sadness and regret must have reached Stephen, because he reached over and helped to steady Ben. My heart was pounding in my ears and my hands were shaking. “Why did you stop them?” Xavier looked at me, confused by my actions. “You wanted them to keep fighting?” I nearly yelled, my regret and anxiety spiking. “They would have killed each other.” “Of course they would have. Can you imagine if we could get a pack to fight itself? We wouldn’t even have to fight the pack to take it over!” Xavier stood and began pacing back and forth. ‘Shit. I didn’t even think about that.’ I cried out to Lela in frustration. I could sense Lela’s fe
Raina’s POVThe sounds of growls and snapping forced me from my sleep. The growls came from right outside my door. Anxiety and anticipation propelled me and I jumped out of bed and yanked at the door, hoping that it would open. It did not move. I looked around, desperate to find something that I could use to open the door, but I knew that there was nothing.I spotted the window and I could see that it was still early morning, as just a hint of light could be seen from the window. I paced around the room, nervous energy rushing through me. I fiddled with the restraints on my wrist, wishing that I could break through them. I desperately wanted to communicate with anyone from my pack, to know who was coming for me, to know what I could do to help out.The sudden rise in voices in the hall caused me to jump back and the wall outside of my room shook, as if someone has been thrown against the wall. Wolves and humans could be heard all around my room. The
I stood in my room, willing my legs to move but they refused, despite all of my efforts. What if Alpha Callan was my mate? Did I want him to be my mate? Or worse, what if he was not? I had no idea who had come upon me in the woods when the rogue attacked me. My palms were sweaty, and my thoughts were racing.‘Raina, we need to go find him,’ Lela urged me.I looked down at my hands, shuffling from foot to foot. ‘I want to, but I am scared.’‘I know, but we won’t know anything if we don’t go to him.’ I appreciated Lela’s drive and used her feelings to will my feet to move.I left out of the room and closed the door, leaning against the door as I closed it. I put my head back against the door, trying to compose myself. All of my effort to try to control my emotions were gone in this moment and I found myself trembling. I worked through all that I could remember when the mysterious wolf came upon me in the
We made our way out of the cells and back toward the open grounds of the training field. I was surprised at the amount of commotion around the field. Tables were being set up, lights were being strung, and a bonfire was being prepped. I could hear Katy and Lizzie in the distance, busily moving around, giving orders, and setting things up. I was in awe of everything that is going on and the buzz in the air was almost electric. It has only been 20 minutes since Lizzie mind-linked me and the activity was already kicked up in high gear.Callan laughed at the sight. “Raina, I need to go meet with Beta Jack and Beta Davis. I suggest if there is something that you would like to see during this celebration, you go let those two know soon, or you won’t have any say.” Callan pulled me closely, his hands firmly on my hips. I looked up at him and smiled, enjoying the closeness of his body. Sudden thoughts of all the things that he will do to me run through my mind
RAINA’S POVI sat in awe as Lizzie and Anne twittered around me, curling my hair and applying makeup. I had never felt so pampered. I laughed as Anne fluffed my hair after combing it out.Lizzie had picked out so many dress options. She had raided the closets of several other she-wolves in an effort to give me as many options as possible. The one thing I had left of my mom’s was a pair of dangly pearl earrings and a pearl and gold bracelet. I pulled them out as I looked at each of the dress options. Looking through the dresses, I found the perfect dress. It was a vintage purple and rose-colored dress. It was a flowy, sleeveless dress with a high neck and a blush sash around the middle, separating the purple bottom from the rose top.“This is the dress!” I yelled as I picked it up, pulling it to my chest and spinning around. Totally cliché, I know, but I knew as soon as I saw the dress that it was the one.I sat b
Throughout the night, it seemed as if nearly every pack member had approached me to introduce themselves. It was overwhelming and exhausting, but I was happy. The bonfire had long ago been started and most wolves were enjoying themselves, eating, drinking, and dancing.“It is tradition for the Luna and the Alpha to dance the last dance. It signifies the end of the public mating ceremony and is a send off to the private mating ceremony.” Lust filled his eyes. Callan leaned in close again. “And I can’t wait to get you back to our room and have you screaming my name all night long.” I shivered as he spoke.‘Damn,’ Lela whispered. ‘And you should hear the things that his wolf is saying to me. It would make you blush.’I couldn’t help but laugh at Lela. Callan looked at me with a questioning look in his eyes.“Lela is telling me all the things that Rollo is saying you are going to do to me
CALLAN’S POVI have never slept so good in my entire life. Waking up, Raina was still curled up next to me, her head still on my chest. It was still early in the morning, but I could not help but be amazed by the woman lying next to me. I sighed and inhaled her scent; I would never tire of Raina. I still could not believe that the moon goddess blessed me with Raina as a mate. I thanked the moon goddess that she had also blessed me with above average fighting skills, even for an Alpha, because I knew that I was going to have to protect my mate. And I would die doing it. Not only was she my mate, but she was a red wolf, and I was well aware of her importance to all wolves. I sighed with contentness, knowing that my life and Raina’s were now one, each of us whole when only a few days ago we were still missing a piece of ourselves.I moved Raina’s hair off of her shoulder, looking over my mark on her shoulder. Similar to mine, it was deep blue and r
10 years later“Anders! Get back in here! Your mom told you dinner was almost ready five minutes ago!” Callan yelled out the back door, before giving up and going out to the backyard. I laughed as Callan fought to round up our son. From what Catherine told me, Anders was just like Callan was when he was young; stubborn, strong, and, at times, apparently hard of hearing. I had called him in several times alerting him of dinner, but he continued to run around the field behind the packhouse. At nearly ten years old, Anders was already showing his power and strength. He took after Callan in both behavior and looks, although he had my green eyes. Callan was often proud of his behavior while I was stuck running around trying to wrangle him in. His sister, Romy, was the opposite. At age 7, she was calm and controlled. She was empathic and caring. I didn’t expect her to be a red wolf and I doubted that she would be. At this point, there were six red wo
Two weeks laterLela was antsy. She wouldn’t stop pacing. I thought at first that it was related to the two weeks of recovery for Callan finally being up. But even after he woke up this morning and joined me in the shower, making sure that I knew that he was more than recovered, she still would not settle down. I know that my sexual frustration went away and down the drain twice this morning, but Lela still had this weird nervous energy about her. It was very uncharacteristic.‘Lela, what the heck is going on?’ I reached out to her, hoping that we could figure all this out. Her anxiety was rubbing off on me and I did not like the way it felt. I suddenly regretted all the times my emotions were overwhelming and bled in to how Lela was feeling. And that happened A LOT.‘I honestly don’t know what it is. I feel like I am waiting for something to happen, and I don’t know what it is.’‘Let’s just try to tak
Eight days. It has been eight days and there has been no change. I went home once a day to change and shower. Otherwise, I did not leave Callan’s room. Different pack members would come to visit, bringing me food and to keep me company. It had become almost routine at this point. Beta Jack and Marta would come first thing in the morning, bringing me breakfast. Beta Jack would stay and keep me company, updating me on anything relevant to pack business. Nathan and Jennifer would come at lunch time. Catherine would come with another pack member who had made me dinner. Justin would typically stop by after dinner and would stay with Callan while I went to shower and change. And the day would begin again.At the end of day eight, exhaustion was starting to set in. I was not sleeping well and worried filled me all day. I had just returned from showering and changing, thanking Justin for staying with Callan, when Dr. Powell walked in.“Hi Dr. Powell. What is
RAINA’s POVLela made it back to the pack in less than a minute. I did not even know that we could run that quickly, but fear can make you run quickly. While fear often drives you away from things, this fear drove me to Callan. Fear and anger. Callan was hurt and I was not going to just stand by and do nothing.Another pang of pain ran through me, but I refused to stop, despite how searing the pain was.‘Do you know where he is?’ I asked Lela as we approached the edge of pack territory.‘By our clearing.’ She responded. There was a certain irony in Callan being in the clearing that I had found so much comfort in. The amount of pain that I was in told me that Callan was severely injured. We would not stop until we were upon him. Brett and Emma were right behind me, keeping pace with Lela for the sprint to Callan.As soon as I hit the edge of the clearing, I saw Callan on the ground, and I immediately shifted back. One o
ALPHA CALLAN’S POVThe sound of breaking glass awakened me. My head was pounding, but when I looked at the car around me, my first thought was Raina. I could barely see the other side of the car, but I could tell that she was not there.“Alpha Callan? Are you alright?” A voice spoke from outside of my window. The breaking of glass was Beta Jack and Brett, who were attempting to pull me out of the car.“Where is Raina?” I asked as I pulled myself out of the car. Although pieces of glass were in my hands and legs, I did not care. I did not care that my head hurt and that it was bleeding. All that I cared about was Raina.Brett shifted and then spoke. “We have a faint scent of her. Right after the crash, my scouts observed two vampires in the area. We believe that they took her. My scouts have spotted the car and are following it.”Rollo roared forward. “We must get her!” I growled out, ready to sh
I awoke in the back of a car. My head was pounding. For a moment, I thought that I might have been knocked unconscious in the car crash and I was in the back of the car on the way home. But none of the smells in the car were familiar, and I knew that was too much to hope for. The pain in my head made it hard to open my eyes, but I forced them open. I was quite dark outside now. I tried to focus on the clock in the car, and, although it was blurry, I could just make out that it was 9:15 PM. “Looks like someone is awake.” A voice said from the front seat of the car. My head was throbbing, but I was awake and looking around, trying to get some understanding of where I was. However, there were just trees everywhere, so I really couldn’t pick up on anything. I looked up at the man in the front passenger seat. He looked young, but I knew that he was a vampire. I would guess that he is probably much older than I thought, although he looked like he is in
As the meeting wrapped up, the councilmen asked that each pack approach Callan to discuss planning, including when the warrior would be coming to our pack and how we would accommodate them. A few of the smaller packs were not able to send a warrior due to safety concerns, which made sense. Callan tensed a little bit when the first Alpha mentioned it, but I quickly put my hand on Callan’s arm to calm him down. One pack was a quarter of the size of our pack ad had lost several warriors in a recent rogue attack. It would be more dangerous for them to send a warrior for their pack. Not only would I have the guardian warriors protecting me, but I also have my own pack. It was important that we considered the other packs in the discussion, especially since I truly did have so much protection.“Luna Raina, Alpha Callan, I am so glad that you are so understanding. This last year has been very hard for my pack. During the last rogue attack, I lost my brother and a son. My
RAINA’S POVThe meeting room was stuffy and crowded. I could see at least 15 different packs represented at the meeting, if not more. Callan had filled me in on some basics about the different Alphas, including Alpha Brock and Alpha Scott, whom I had just met. Alpha Scott seemed nice but Alpha Brock was a prick. I could tell from the brief interaction I had with him. Callan also told me that there were 20 different packs spread across the U.S., although there were currently only 19 since no one had taken over for Alpha Thomas. Much to my surprise, there were apparently some pack members who had stayed behind.The Council sat along a long table at the front of the room on a raised area. Ten men sat along the table. As Callan walked us to our seats, I looked at each of them. While I wasn’t specifically trying to read the emotions of any of them, I was struck by the different emotions that some of them seemed to be experiencing. Most just seemed interested, ey
ALPHA CALLAN POVI was surprised when I slept until 5. I had really expected sleep to elude me with the meeting with the Council today. In anticipation of things such as this, Rollo typically was up early, as he was on high alert. ‘Decided to let me sleep?’ I joked to Rollo.‘I needed the sleep. I am still exhausted from the other day.’ Rollo stirred and stretched.I could only laugh, as I, too, was still feeling a bit of the exhaustion from the other day. But we needed our energy for today. It was clear that this was going to be a long day. I hadn’t meant to upset Raina yesterday, but I did have a feeling that the Council or someone at the meeting might ask for her to “prove” that she was a red wolf. It was ridiculous and I agreed with Raina about her concerns. If she didn’t want to shift or show them anything, then I would 100% support that. Quite frankly, it was ridiculous that they would even ask,