RAINA’S POV
I tried to remain calm, but nervous energy stopped me from sitting still. I had sat down and gotten up at least five times before I decided that pacing was my best option.
“Dear, I know that you are worried, but I do wish that you would sit down. Your pacing is making me dizzy,” Elder Rosemarie smiled at me as she spoke, grabbing my hand as I was walking past her once again.
I looked down at her, a weary smile on my face. “I am sorry.”
“No need to apologize. I know that you are worried. But your pacing isn’t going to help them out there. You need to conserve your energy in case we need it.” Elder Rosemarie was right, and I knew it.
The fighting had been going on for some time. We had all heard the howl and knew that the rogues had attacked.
Damien was standing near the door. He appeared fairly composed despite the fighting going on outside.
“What do you thin
I stood in front of the packs, looking over the training field where all of the wolves had gathered. Callan stood close to me, his hand on my lower back as we stood in front of everyone. It was a mix of emotions that were felt throughout the crowd. There was a clear sense of satisfaction that we had been victorious in the battle. And the loss of only eight wolves was significant, considering battles with rogues are often bloody and vicious than other battles between wolves. Yet my heart was still heavy with the losses. There were families that had lost someone and despite the victory, sadness fell over me. As was ceremonial, the bodies of our lost pack members would be burned. We believed that it released the wolf soul back to the moon goddess. Since pack members were lost from other packs as well, some bodies were prepared for returning back to their home packs for the same ceremony to be completed. The sky was overcast and the somber feeling of the weather mi
“Tell me why you are leaving again?” Callan asked, stroking my arm as I stood at the kitchen counter making us dinner. “You know why I am leaving.” I stated, cutting up the onions as I spoke. “Maria is having a hard time adjusting. I know she hasn’t told Michael, but there has been more than one she-wolf who has been extremely rude to her. The adjustment is really hard on her right now.” I put the knife down and turned to face Callan. He pulled me close to him as I turned around and I could feel his hardened length on my hip. The silver and gold specks in his eyes swirled and his navy blue eyes deepened in color. The urge to kiss him became too overwhelming and I pulled his face down to mine, never tiring of the feel of his tongue on mine. I ran my hands down his chest and did not stop as my hand slid down inside of Callan’s shorts. He had been preparing to run a quick patrol before dinner, so he was only wearing a t-shirt and loose fitting shorts. I d
I laughed the entire way up to our room, Callan’s hand on my ass as he held me closely to his shoulder. My arousal was on clear display with the way I was laying on Callan’s shoulder. Lela was purring in my head as Callan carried me up the stairs.Entering the room, Callan closed the door behind us, the sense of urgency that had carried us up the stairs leaving him. He slowly placed me down on the bed and pulled the shirt over my head. He unhooked my bra and I let it slide off my arms. He pulled at my shorts and I gently lifted my hips off the be, allowing him to pull them off of me. I yanked down his shorts, letting him know that I wanted him to take them off, which he quickly obliged me and took them off, followed by his tank top. I loved the feeling of his skin on mine. Even if we didn’t make love, I would often ask Callan to sleep naked next to me. The feel of his skin on mine was calming and had been helpful with my anxiety, especially in the immediate
We piled our bags in the SUV. Nathan helped Elder Rosemarie in the SUV before opening the door for Jennifer. Callan pulled me against the passenger door, caging me against it, burying his head in the crook of my neck. I felt him inhale deeply before capturing my lips with his. He kissed me deeply and I could feel his lips on mine even after the kiss had ended. As we drove away, I expected to see Callan following behind us in another car. I looked around, confused when I did not see another car pull away. I turned to speak to Elder Rosemarie when I spotted Rollo running along the car. Since we were still on pack lands, the driving was slow and Rollo was easily keeping up. Callan had planned out our route so that we avoided the major interstate. Callan thought that the major interstate provided too much exposure to risk. I also think that he wanted to stick to local highways so that he could run alongside of us, seeing that he was currently running along the side of th
“Maria!” I yelled as I got out of the car. She looked excited to see me, but I could feel the worry that was present. Pulling her in for a hug, the worry was clear. I was afraid that it was worse than Lizzie let on.“I am so glad you are here.” She whispered, hugging me more closely. Michael came around from the other car, carrying my bag. Maria broke our hug and moved to greet Michael. His entire face lit up as she approached, and he quickly pulled her to him, kissing her. It was clear that they cared very deeply for each other, so there must be something pretty significant if they had not completed the Luna Ceremony.Jennifer and Nathan made their way around the cars, Jennifer dropping her bag when she saw Maria. She ran to her, both girls embracing in a hug. It was clear from Jennifer’s reaction in the car that Maria had not been as forthcoming with Jennifer about what was going on with Michael and the pack. It wasn’t
ALPHA MICHAEL POVI followed Raina to the office. I knew where this conversation as going to go and anything that she said to me I am sure that I would deserve. I fucked up. I knew that. I used to think t it was fun to sleep around. Hell, I couldn’t even begin to guess how many women I had slept with over the last few years. Although Maria told me that several of the she-wolves were offering up their opinions about that number. And it was far from flattering.I made a lot of bad choices. You would think that having a crazy woman in your bed once or twice would cause you to learn a thing or two, but I never did. Not after a human woman hunted me down at a bar after a one-night stand. Not after I slept with a third pack member, and she kept showing up in my office. Not even after one of them threatened to cut off my dick. Nope. None of those made me change my ways.Callan had learned. He slept with a lot fewer she-wolves than I did, but he learned. Once a sh
“Wake up!” Lizzie yelled, entering the room and jumping on the bed. “We need to get planning!”I groaned and pulled the pillow over my head. “What time is it?” I asked. If I had to bet, I would say that it was way too early to be up.“7:00. We have more time to plan this one then we did yours, but that doesn’t mean that we need to wait around. You need to get up so we can get started!” Lizzie yelled in her typical loud fashion, which I found that I missed more than I realized since she had moved to live with Derrick.“Who is the event planner?” I asked, hoping that it wasn’t one of the she-wolves from yesterday.“Her name is Missy. She is amazing and loves Maria. They had actually already started planning but there is still a lot to figure out.” Lizzie started pulling me out of bed as she spoke, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at her. I was even more thankful fo
Part 2 Chapter 7 The girls got in the car, not specifically noticing the threat. It wasn’t a strong scent, but at least one rogue was clearly in the area. I looked back at Beta Davis and Clark. They both seemed to be alerted to the rogue in the area. “Beta Davis?” I turned back towards him, thankful that the girls were in the car already. Lizzie caught my eye, and I knew that she was also aware of the threat. I was thankful that even though we couldn’t mind-link anymore, that we still had a strong connection, and she knew the importance of keeping the girls occupied. “Alpha Michael is sending a patrol. The scent isn’t strong, but there has clearly been a rogue here.” Beta Davis directed Clarke to check the area around the building. “Raina, I am going to take you all back to the packhouse. Please stay inside until we are sure the threat is addressed.” “Of course. How would they know I was here?” I asked, not certain how the rogues would know where I wa
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,