Chilli POV As she laughs triumphantly, distracting herself for a moment, I, feeling the pain and anger from her words and actions, plant my paws, centering myself, not wasting this opportunity to strike or enact my revenge. Before she knows what is happening, I push off from the ground and fly through the air at her, to land and connect with her side, riding her down to the ground with a hard thud as I lock my jaws around her neck. My sharp canines pierce her hairy skin as all she can do is howl out an all-mighty screech of pain, as her warm blood floods my mouth and trickles out the corners, staining my fur on its way down. I scream through the link into her mind, deafening her inner ears, and making her feel all my pain and wrath. Her blood pools on the ground around us as I feel her life force fade. She wails and struggles in my grip but to no evade, as I clench my jaw until I hear the snap!I have never taken a life before, I never thought I would, never
Elias POV Finally holding my Chilli in my arms, somehow gives me strength. Rising to my feet I offer her a hand to help her up,"Let's get out of here." She smiles and accepts my help by taking my hand. As she gets to her feet they seem to give out from under her and I just manage to catch her by wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her close to me to steady her. She blushes at me, looking tired and suddenly weak, I can't help but growl ever so softly as I give her a look of concern, worry, and annoyance. I feared this, I feared she'd go too far and use up too much power and energy. My free hand instinctively rushes to her stomach again in a panic, but Chilli just holds my hand there and smiles weakly,"I'm okay, we are okay, promise," I grunt at her, unhappy she exhausted herself so much, but taking her word for it for now."Okay, but as soon as possible, we are going to the hospital to get you two checked out, just to be safe and sure," I tell her,
Chilli POV "Oh, fuck!" I murmur aloud, still in disbelief of where we are. I close my eyes and try opening a link with anyone from our pack, but I'm too weak and probably too far away from them, we must be deep into the other's territory. Glancing at Elias in the corner of my eye, I can tell by his facial expression he just tried and failed too.Fear begins to creep in as I recall the stories and bits of information I know about this place and it's people. I am now so glad Elias found these clothes for me and a cleaner set for himself, if anyone saw him in blooded clothes we'd be picked up and taken to one of their hospitals where they'd want to run tests and goddess knows what they'd discover, or he would be arrested, which isn't much better... Brrrr... a shiver runs down my spine at the mere thought of it. Even in our current state and appearance, we will attract too much unwanted attention. There are areas where our borders do blur and mix with the ot
Winter packhouseI kick against the bars, still unable to bear being down here in these cold, dank, ancient cells. To be honest, I forgot they were down here as we don't use them anymore, not for the last hundred-odd years anyway. Wrapping my hands around the black bars, gripping them with all the might I have left, still so angry, "Arrrrh!" I cry out kicking the metal again,"Oh, for goddess sake Erin! Will you stop!" "No!" I snap back."We've been down here for weeks now,""And for that reason, I should relax, take a nap and just wait around for something to happen?" "No, but it's better than pulling on those fucking bars every hour of every day! They are not going to BREAK!" "Sorry Luna," I bow my head as I let go and back away till I feel the stone wall behind my back, then slide down it till my ass hits the ground with a huff. "Better," my luna smiles, but only for a brief moment before the sorrow and heartache rushes back. I r
Erin POV (continued)I feel my emotions overflowing me, pushing me to and past my breaking point, but I will not cry, I refuse to let him make me cry. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath in and ... out, "What have you done?" I look at my luna in confusion as she guestures at my hand,"Oh," I croke, looking down at my bleeding nuckles with bits of dirt and gravel in beded in them."Give it here," my luna says, holding out her hands to take my bleeding one. I watch her pick out the fragments of stones from my swollen hand, if it wasn't for my luna I think I would have given in by now or lost it completely, she has helped me through this so much, been so supportive, I can't help but well up ever so slightly. "Thank you," I whisper, barely audible. She looks up at my face and smiles,"Of course, although if you didn't keep hitting the walls and now the floor, I wouldn't have to keep doing this," she jests, not realising what I'm actually thanking he
"What?" I look up to see Leroy's face beaming at me, as if his words have solved everything. "I'll mark you," he says, "then he can't, well, no, he still can but not as easily plus, you'll be stronger against him and the call of the mates bond." I stare at him as I fill with humiliation and hurt at his idea. There was a time I wanted nothing more than to hear those words from him, well, not those exact words but the offer to be with him as his mate, as his partner for life. I remember when he turned eighteen, I hoped so much that he'd look at me and feel the mate bond with me, but when we didn't, my heart broke and splintered. So for the rest of the night my glass was never empty for long, as I tried to drown my sorrow and wash away the heartache. I drank and drank until I felt numb, not that it lasted long as I woke up the next morning with a wicked hangover and a still broken heart.I'd love to be his mate, I'd love to say yes to him, but not like this, not a pity of
Leroy POV A faint whisper travels up the steps as if following me, and I hear her words once I am on the landing above. "I love you too, Leroy, yes."I am frozen in place for a split second, overcome with joy at her answer to my question. I want nothing more than to run down those steps and tell her I heard her, to ... kiss her. But I can hear the guards on their rounds. My head and my heart argue of the right course of action, I glance left and right down the hallway until my heart wins."Fuck it," I whisper to myself and turn around, giving into my desires. I silence glide down the steps once more to find Erin exactly where I left her sitting on the floor. She seems in a daze as she stares off into nothing with a smile on her face, I don't think she even heard me come back down the steps as she jumps when I reappear in front of her again,"Leroy?" She panics at seeing me again so soon, fear flashes across her eyes. Without thinking or
"My blessing? ... " her eyes well with joy as if now only just realising what I'm asking, as all the pieces finally come together, "do you mean ... you and Leroy ... together?" I nod excitedly then quickly gesture to her to keep her voice down. If anyone hears us, it could put Leroy in danger, not to mention us. "Awe, that's amazing," she whispers, "when?" "Tonight at midnight." "Good, okay. And are you marking each other tonight?" Her question drops a droplet of doubt into my heart, "I ... err, think so," suddenly feeling unsure, but Kay just nods and asks,"What phase was the moon in last night, do you know?" "It wasn't a full, so I'd say, gibbous," "Waxing or waning?" She probes,"Well, it didn't feel like a full moon the night before, so ... gibbous.""Good, this is good," she smiles at me, "What's good?" I ask back."Well, if tonight is a full moon, then it can strengthen the bond between you and is said to be lucky." "Really,
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