“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
The bed slowly dipped in, rousing me from my sleep. I didn’t need to open my eyes to know that it was my mate joining me in bed. I finally opened my eyes, noting that it was still dark outside. Callan pulled me closer to him.“What time is it?” I asked, knowing that it was too early in the morning.“4 am,” Callan grumbled, his nose in my neck as he inhaled deeply.I turned and looked at him, surprised by the time. “Did you get any sleep?”He peppered kisses along my jaw. “I went to sleep after we mind-linked last night, but I woke up just a few hours later. I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I decided to come here. Rollo and I made it in about four hours.”I sighed and threw my head back on the pillow. I missed Callan greatly over the last few days.“What time are you supposed to be meeting with Michael to speak with the rogue?” He asked, running his hand across my stomach
I made my way back to the packhouse. As I walked, I noticed the progress in setting up for the ceremony. Three tents had been set up. There were lights being strung from each of the tents as I walked by. Flower arrangements were already placed around each tent. One tent was set up with chairs and a small table at the front, which was where the Luna Ceremony would take place. The other two tents were set up with a DJ booth, dance floor, two long buffet tables, and other tables and chairs for sitting and eating.I entered the kitchen. It was 10:00. The rest of the girls would be here at 11:00 to start getting ready for the Luna Ceremony. I decided that this bit of down time would be a good opportunity to process what happened with Lela. I have found it to be very useful to talk things through with Lela whenever we have used our abilities, whether it be using it simply, like I had done with Maria, or using it more substantially like I had just done with the rogue.I
Part 2 Chapter 10I woke up early, for some reason sleep eluding me for most of the night. I had a nightmare shortly after going to sleep, and my sleep the rest of the night came in fits. I ultimately decided that I would stop trying to sleep and got up.It was around 5:00 when I finally decided to get out of bed. Throwing on one of Callan’s sweatshirts and a pair of shorts, I made my way down to the kitchen, grabbing myself a cup of coffee. I looked over the back patio, deciding that I would take a seat and enjoy the early morning before others got up and it was time for the long drive back home.I sat and looked out along the tree line. This was a dense forest compared to our tree line at home. I could feel someone looking at me from the trees and I noticed that Michael was coming out from running patrol. It seemed very early for him to be out, especially after the Luna Ceremony last night.“Raina, you are up already?” Michael asked, w
ALPHA CALLAN POV A growl erupted from deep within my chest and Rollo came roaring to the surface. I instinctively pulled Raina behind me, my need to protect her ever present as I tried to process what the witch had just told us. Sarah took a step back at the growl, moving behind my desk. Beta Jack stepped in between me and Sarah, clearly aware that Rollo was on the brink of taking control. “What do you mean they want to kill her?” I roared, my anger and frustration creeping higher and higher. Raina placed her hand on my back and before I could speak further, I could feel a sense of calmness go through me. It was not a lot, but enough my anger to decrease to a reasonable amount. “Thank you.” I spoke to Raina through mind-link. I was still upset, but the calmness was enough that Rollo was not ready to attack someone. I pulled Raina in front of me, embracing her. “That was just through the mate bond, but if you hadn’t calmed down, I would have us
RAINA’S POV I could feel Callan’s eyes on me. I turned around and found him standing at the patio door. I smiled at him. The look on his face told me that Callan was upset. I had been sitting out here since I left Callan’s office, deep in contemplation about everything that had happened over the last few days and everything that Sarah just said. I ran through things too many times in my head. So many times, in fact, that Lela had to tell me to stop. I was thinking too much, and it was hurting her head. Deciding that it was not getting me anywhere anyway, I had stopped and sat meditating. Callan’s eyes on me had pulled me out of the meditation. Callan came towards me. I moved from the chair to the couch so he could sit next to me. When he sat down, I snuggled next to him, pulling my legs up to my chest as I rested my head on Callan’s shoulder. He put his arm around me and pulled me closer against him. “I spoke with Councilman Desmond. He said tha
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,