Chilli POV
As we get back to our table, Erin claps and we wave her off. I sit back down and reach for my drink" That's mine" Pauline suddenly behind me, taking it from my hand inches away from my lips. Ok I think to myself . "That's yours" she points and disappears into the crowd." That was strange even for her" Erin says, as I pick up the glass and take a gulp of it and finish it in two. "Wow, Chills" Erin stares at me."She does that to me" we laugh.Erin and Elias are dancing and mingling with our guests, while I nurse a glass of water, that last drink isn't sitting well. It's not like I have had a lot, only two or three. Pauline starts calling my name, then she mind-links to me ' sit up child, stop slouching' with a grown, I do as I'm told, only to see her escorting someone this way. Not another one, she's had me dancing with so many men tonight, there been Lucas, Mika, David, Simeon to name just a few. Now who?"This is Charlotte" she tells the older gentleman."Chilli please" I stand to greet the man. Pauline shoots me a look."Charlotte would be honoured to have this dance with you, Thoran" I reluctantly let him take my hand as Pauline smirks at me.She knows how much I dislike my full name which is why she uses it all the more.My full name is Charlotte but everyone calls me Chilli because of my preference to the cold. I love to wrap up in a cosy blanket or an old baggy hoodie. Now they also call me Chilli because of my wolf's form and the fact it looks like I have socks on, as of where the red and gold flicks stops and my paws being a completely pale, off white fur. Father is one of the few who still call me Charlie, I like it, plus anything was better than Charlotte.Thoran leads me out on to the dance floor and pulls me in close, too close and tight. This makes me feel uncomfortable. We start stepping and moving in time with the music."So Charlotte.." for fuck sakes, I think to myself. He starts waffling on about his home, his position in his pack and what it's like there, to be honest I'm not really listening, just hoping this is a short song so I can get away from him. As he keeps talking I begin to feel dizzy and things are becoming hazy "... You'd like it there is hot all the time, no need for coats" Hu, staring at him, what does he mean I'll like it there, there where? He continues on and on about it and what he expects from his next mate. MATE! WHAT!?!Elias POVI can't stop watching Chilli being pulled around the floor. The young bachelorette I'm swaying with is trying to engage me in conversation but I'm too involved in watching my future beta. I can feel something is wrong. Erin's voice sounds in my head "Elias?" Echoing concern."Yes I'm seeing it""Something's not right" she's not wrong "songs nearly over, thankfully" she tells me."Good, meet you back at the table?" at that we look at eachother and nod, our dance partners oblivious to the link conversation Erin and I have just had. As we nod the song ends and we both thank our partners and excuse ourselves, heading back to the table I see Chilli is still out on the floor, I try to mind-link to her but I can't make the connection. Erin shakes her head at me, obviously having the same problem.Looking back at her, she looks like she's trying to pull away from this man but he has no intention of letting go of her, anytime soon. I can feel something is wrong with her.Opening a mind-link to Erin again "I don't recognize him, who is he?""Thoran Weston, his from some dessert pack, no where near here""Rings a bell, Alpha, beta?""No, some kind of business man, his rumoured to be someone not to be messed with" "Mafia?" I look at Erin and she shrugs. " How the hell did he get an invite" knowing we are both thinking the same thing. We both answer at the same time "Pauline" this has her sent of over it.I have always been protective of her and Erin, they are like sisters to me but this is stronger than that. Since I danced with her earlier I feel possessive of Chilli like she's mine but I've danced with her hundreds of times and never felt anything like this before. I can't get this feeling out of my head, the thought of when I put my hand on her waist and hers went to my shoulder, the zap that went through me, it was electrifying. But now I feel sick to my stomach and there is a pain in my chest, something is wrong with Chilli and I need to get to her, now and help her. I'm about to walk over and intervene, I hear a tiny, weak voice in head 'help'. It's Chilli! Her helplessness stopped me dead in my tracks for a moment.Chilli POVWish he'd just let go of me, although I think I might fall to the ground if he does. What is wrong with me, my mind and inner wolf are racing to get away but my traitorous skin is tingling at his touch, it feels like pins and needles. My surroundings are fading away, everything is blurry except him. This can't be what its like, what it feels like when you've found your mate? Please goddess no!Help!I was fighting to keep my head up, desperately not wanting any more of me to be touching him. Over Thoran's shoulder I can sense him coming my way before anything else, his silhouette breaking through the misty fog. Just seeing him makes me feel the tiniest bit better.Elias taps Thoran on the shoulder to attain the man's attention."May I cut in?" Standing strong with his head held high, not really asking. My body screaming for Elias."No" Thoran's snarls, tightening his grip on me, tears begin welling in my eyes."I insist.. " Elias says through gritted teeth but still smilin
2 months laterChilli POVPauline has been more of a bitch than normal. She's been on me constantly, since the ball and with father being away with the alphas on their tour of other packs, she seems annoyed with me because I've ruined her plans of having the house to herself for twelve weeks. They left the day after the ball, Normally I would have gone with, to assist father plus It's a great way for young wolves of the beta, alpha etc to find their mates if they are from other packs but I wasn't feeling well enough and would have slowed them down. So I've had to stay with Pauline which means chores all day everyday. Each day they are gone, I feel more lonely and isolated. Even Erin has gone too but I miss Elias the most. We barely had a chance to talk before he was gone. Waking up the morning after the ball, in his bed with him sitting across the room. He looked pissed off and angry at something. Wouldn't really say much, just made sure I was ok and left. Weird and hurtful. It felt
It didn't last long, as they asked after Chilli straight away. We told them she became ill the day before the tour started, and sadly she's not well enough to join us part way through the tour, according to Pauline. I tense at the mention of her, which annoyingly doesn't go unnoticed. Erin raises an eyebrow at me and my grandparents exchange a worried look. We spent the day touring the territory, meeting and shaking hands with everyone. Then finally, back at the house, our bellys full with grans sublime cooking, we rest in the lounge. The others are talking amongst themselves as I try to listen and engage in the conversations but again my mind and focus is elsewhere. All I want to do is mind-link to Chilli, to just hear her voice, for it to fill my mind, to feel her in my head. I close my eyes, trying to fight the urge to reach out to her when I notice the conversation die off a bit, and my name said aloud."Elias?"Opening my eyes to see my father looking at me. "Are you alright son
Elias POV "What do you mean she wasn't my twin?" Mother, the most shocked I've ever seen, she looks so pale she might faint. "I ... I dont understand?".Gran takes a seat in her armchair, as Grandfather stands behind it, still holding her shoulders, firmly, supportingly. "When we were in the hospital and you had not long been born, I overheard the nurses talking about this young woman who died giving birth to a baby girl. I felt sad, of course but just tried to focus on you and how thankful I was that we were both okay, thinking the father or family of the woman would look after the baby and that was that" Gran wells with a tear. Placing her hand on her husbands. "Tom and I were taking a little strole to get me moving and as we passed the nursery we hear crying, but not a hungry cry or anything like that. It was a painfull, grieving cry. We stopped and gazed at this little thing howling, we couldn't look away. I knew that was the baby I heard the nurses talking about earlier. I ask
"Try linking to her" Erin, now next to me, nudging me "I know we are far away from home but try, you are strong, you could do it." I nod at her and close my eyes, concentrating on my thoughts and feeling for her. 'Chilli, Chilli are you there? Chilli answer me!' It takes all my might to connect to her. But the connection is weak, really weak, not because of the distance, something is off, wrong. Her responds is weird, disoriented, incoherent, my protectivness spikes. "Chilli, please talk to me" "Pp..phh, ye..ahhh .. rig..htt.. lea...ve..mm.eee.. a..lone...ppfff..ooff.ff" "What wrong?" Erin asks, watching my facial expression change."She sounds drunk or something" I rub my face, "her voice is disorted, echoey, it comes and goes, like a bad connection but not because of the distance, its strange. I'm worried".At that Logan pulls out his phone and makes a call, then pulls it away from his ear and huffs. "No answer" he states, dialing again, moments later someone answers, disappointed
I feel scratching to the door of my mind, like something is trying to get in. Opening my eyes and looking down at my wrists, the blood flow has slowed, nearly stopped. Hu? I think to myself, shouldn't I be dead them? As I stare at the blood colecting by the drain, I notice something isn't right, my blood, there's something weird about it, its darker than it should be and what is that? Quickly, I reach up and turn the shower off, before the water can wash away any more off my blood. With the water off I examine the foreign substance that was in my veins. Poking it with my finger tip, I sniff it, wolves bane or some hybrid version of it and something else I don't recognize. My skin starts to burn, falling out the shower and grabbing a towel, wiping the gooe off. As I do, I notice the cut on my wrist has healed, only a scar remains with burnt track marks on my skin, the wolves bane. Why the fuck is there wolves bane in my system? The scratching returns, my wolf, my wolf is scratching t
Elias POV "Mate?" Feeling like I can't breathe. Logan shakes his head, looking down at his phone. "I don't like this, something feels wrong" "What? What's wrong?" Erin asks me."I can't make a connection to her, like she's weak, so weak she can't even handle a link, like she ...oh goddess " "What?" Logan says, "like she's what?"Struggling to say the words let alone think them."Like she is dying". No one says anything for a moment, a tear glides down my cheek. Dying not dead, pull yourself together man! I tell myself, come on. Then my wolf growls at me 'get to her now!'I jump to my feet, "I'm going back!" telling them and rushing out the door and to one of our cars. As I turn the key in the ignition the passenger door opens and Erin gets in."Shut up, I'm coming with you" she tells me before I can protest "You are the next alpha, you can not go alone and as a member of your security team, I must escort you back" she answers my unspoken objections with a wink. "Plus, I want to! I
Chilli POV Thoran and Pauline are still arguing as I try to sneak out, I'm nearly in the clear as Thoran yakes me back in the middle of the room by my hair. "Where the fuck do you think you are going?" He snarls at me. "Your mine now, bitch!" Bloody hell, I think to myself. Anger coming off him, like the waves of the ocean in a storm, deadly and treacherous. "You've been brought and paid for!" Brought and paid for? what the fuck?! I look up at Pauline, her expression not wavering, no guilt or regret, just pleasure and pride at the thought of finally getting rid of me and receiving something in return. What did he give her?I am sick of this, I am not hers or anyones to sell or be bargain with. My contempt for her burns through me and I feel my wolf taking over, Normally I would fight it but no more, I welcome the change, letting my wolf take control. Just as my bones start to crack and fur appears on my skin, I get her boot in the face. Bitch, I think, not again, as it all goes blac
Elias POV I look up and watch as Chilli steps out from the en suite, wraped in just a towel, making her way towards her dressing table as I lay on our bed where I was just aimlessly flicking through my phone. Taking a seat and opening its draw, she removes a single, plastic pot housing her facial cream and unscrews its lid. It's nothing fancy, not expensive, its just a simple, none branded, vitamin E night cream.I continue to ovserve as she dips two fingers into the pale lotion and looks into the mirror, to then slowly drag said fingers down her face, starting at her forhead, gliding smoothly along her nose and then finishing with a dab on her chin. She then wipes a bit of the remainder on each cheek before replacing the lid and putting it back in its draw. My eyes are fixed to her as she slowly but firmly works the cream into her skin, taking extra care near and around her eyes. Her finger tips caress over her own face and down her neck, over my mark on her neck
Chilli POV Perching under a tree with Chant as we take a break from sparring whislts our mates for some reason decide to chop some fire wood. I find it amusing and humble how as the alpha he likes and enjoys chopping fire wood for the pack house, no job is to small for our mighty leader.Chant's seductive eyes never leave her mate as he swings the axe up into the air, where it seems to pause for the briefest of seconds before falling down onto a chunk of wood, spilting it into two. The whole movement and process is magical, so smooth and artistic like poetry. I had watched my own mate for a time, admiring his tensing biceps with every swing, the beauty of his movements and strength of the action, but now I'm just leaning back against the tree's trunk with my eyes shut, listening to the beautiful rhythmic sound of the wood splitting, of metal against nature, somehow for some reason I find it peaceful as I smirk at the thought of Chant lustfully gazing at Jay, it al
Elias POV That was brutal, oh my goddess do I hurt, I haven't hurt this much from training since, shit, I don't know when. Sure, I was mad and needed to work it off, but fuck me, Chilli was livid, she was masking it well, I mean, wow. My ass hurts. I had to use all my strength to stay on my feet, especially after I hit the ground hard the first few times of her kicking and taking me down. Once she swept my legs out from underneath me, my wolf instincts took over just so I could stay on my feet. I think I pulled something that time, thank the goddess for wolf healing, cos my left ass cheek and leg are killing me. With Chant now paired with Chilli and Erin and Leroy working together, that leaves me with Jay, who is as good as his mate, oh dear. I sigh inwardly as we step away from the others to train, I can spar and keep up with anyone, I'm alpha afterall, but after the beating I've just endured, I'd prefer a nice easy spar, but hay ho, lets do this. Thankfully, Jay see
Chilli POV Finally everyone is out on the field, we can get started. I am needing to hit something. Elias insist on sparring with me first and to Erin's relief but Chant's dismay, I agree. Which just leaves the others to pair up, one of them did suggest mate paring but the guys seems a little bit wary so it's girls vs girls and guys vs guys. For now anyway. After a fairly rough spar with Elias, I finally start to calm down and release my rage, which I guess was his plan, so I don't feel gilty later now if I cause anyone else major harm. Clearly sensing this, Elias allows us to switch partners and Chant and I go straight to each other, to which the rest of the group chuckle at our predictableness. Chant and I exchange a sinister grin as the others repair up, Elais with Jay and Erin with Leroy. I mirror Chant as she raises her arms up into a defensive stance, declaring she is ready, a smile growing on her face. As we stare down on each other I am reminded of our rematch
"You know there was no way he would accept and train with us," Leroy says once we are alone and with just our own pack members, "I know, but it was fun and satisfying to embarrass him like that, the look on his face at the mere thought of it was golden. To watch him squirm." I can't help but let out an enormous laugh, to which Chilli shoots me evil eyes for finding any of this so amusing. "What?" I chuckle at her before pulling myself together because if looks could kill. I had to laugh, if I didn't I think I would have lost it, plus it felt so good, too good to put Jordan down a bit like that in such a slight way in front of the others. However, by Chilli's facial expression, she does not agree, goddess, did I want to kill him, thankfully in a way he did say no, or we would have had a dead alpha on our hands and territory. "Come on, your telling me you didn't want a chance at hitting him?" I ask her in a teasing way, she looks at me whislt crossing her arms across he
"I hear some incorrect information has reached the ears of my children," "Oh, and what's that got to do with us? Idle gossip is not what these meetings are for." "No, not normally, but," she pauses for the briefest of moments to adjust her tone and the ferocity of her words, "but when it comes to petty, stupid, horrible lies about my family, my children, then you and I have a problem! A big problem!" He nearly chuckles in her face as he asks half heartedly,"Pray tell what are these so called insults?""A spare heir, a baby," she lists off the tamer ones first, working up to the biggest and worst one, before she stops again as I feel a heat burning off of her directed straight at Jorden, "and an inbreed!" The room falls silent after everyone gasps and shoot death stares at the alpha. A low growl escapes from mine, Erin and Leroy throats, our protectiveness taking over. Jordan looks like he doesn't know weather to laugh or bite back."Jordan!" One of the ot
Jordan holds his hands up in defence as I take a few deep breaths to calm myself before turning to the rest of the room to acknowledge our other guests. "Alpha Jonathan, Luna Suzie, beta Willow, sorry for my tardiness, how is Maxwell?" I ask taking my seat next to Elias, pushing my anger down for now, eyeing up Jordan in the cornor of my eye, I'm not done with you yet, I think to myself."No problem Luna Winters, father is doing well and thoroughly enjoying his retirement," he smiles with a nod of his head, which we return, "thank you for asking." Jonathan took over as alpha of the west pack two years ago with his mate Suzie and appointed Willow Steal as the first female beta of the west pack. She is a strong minded woman with a powerful right hook."Alpha Alex, Luna Ela and beta Karl, welcome and thank you for coming today," Elias smiles to the leaders of the Spring rise pack from the south, who joined our alliance about four years ago.With the greetings done and out of the way, we
The drive to school is a pretty normal one, we talk, sing and laugh all the way there, forgetting about any and all problems the day may have already brought. Once there and out of the car, we all walk hand in hand with Marcus in the middle, through the blue painted gates."Luna," the teacher on the gate addresses me with a nod of the head, as does any other adult that comes into eye contact with me. I smile back and return their nods.Like always, even though we come to Lily's class room first, we walk Marcus around to his first at her insistence, she says its part of her job to look out for him to make sure herself she sees him to his door. It warms my heart the care and love they have for each other. As I kiss my son goodbye and he hugs his sister, I take note of the other high ranking children from other packs, sitting at their tables ready for the lessons to begin. Future alpha's, beta's and Luna's all learning together including Tammy and Willow, Erin and Leroy's twins who are a
Chilli POVEleven years later"Lilith Kay Rosalee Winters! Get your furry tail out here now! Don't make me call you again!" I call out by the front door as I wait for my ten year old to take her to school. "Mummy, is Li-li in tuble?""She will be if she doesn't hurry up sweetpea,""Oh,""Lily!" I shout again,"I'm coming, I'm coming," my oldest calls back at me, jeez, ten going on fifteen, she's acting like a teenager, where does the time go? It feels like only yesterday that she fitted in my arms as I rocked her, singing her back to sleep.Take me home tonight, I'd do anything with you, buy a bottle of whiskey, we'll get matching tattoos, tell me that you love me, let me drive your car, we can sit 'til morning light, just countin' every star, 'cause if there's a hell, I'll meet you there, and if there's a heaven, they're serving beer, and if you're an angel, then I must be high, if there's a church, It's rock 'n roll, if there's