Taking a deep breath, I grabbed my drink and downed it. “I don’t get how you can be so level headed about everything.”“It’s my job. It was my job to keep you and Nate out of trouble. Now, it’s my job to make sure I keep trouble off the streets of my town. It takes a level head and an understanding of how the world actually works. Not just the little bubble you’ve grown up in.”Charles handed me a beer bottle as I leaned against the wall, looking at the mess our game had become. Shaking my head, I took a swig of the bottle.“Let it go, Silas. Hell, they might even be helpful keeping any other rogues in order that come through.”“Nate said we have had zero issues with rogues as of late and usually we have issues with them crossing into our territory once a month at least.”Charles rolled his eyes. “See. Maybe get your muzzle out of your ass and start seeing how good it might be that they were there.”I raised an eyebrow at him. “You fucking her?”Charles coughed into his bottle and too
I stumbled out the front door and took out a cigarette, but patted my pants. Wrinkling my nose, I turned to go inside when a lighter appeared in front of me. Looking over, Solaris was leaning against the building, a clove cigarette in her other hand. Reaching out, I took it and lit the end before handing it back to her.“Thanks.”She chuckled. “No problem, Alpha.”“Silas.”Her head cocked to the side.“You’re not part of my pack. It’s Silas out here.”Rolling her eyes, she took a drag. “You need a ride home, Silas? Your Beta and Charles left an hour ago.”“I’ll probably stay in town. Ubers don’t like going up into the territory.”She laughed. “Considering the ones that work now are mostly vampires, I’m not surprised. I can give you lift if you can handle the back of a motorcycle.”My eyes narrowed. “Why would you…”“Maybe I just want you off my property, Alpha.”“Si-las. S-i-l-a-s.” Somewhere in spelling my name, the drunkin-ness got to me and I slurred the last three letters of my na
*** Solaris POV ***I was struggling to keep myself from laughing. Right now, in the parking lot of our bar, I had four werewolves bowing to me in apology. Nate and Silas flanked them, Silas even had his hand on the back of one of their necks. It was hilarious and I was struggling. I could hear Noah and Finn behind me snickering, which did not help.“Keep it on your territories boys and we have no issues.” I nodded to Silas and he let them go.Sighing, he glared at all of them. “Fucking embarrassment, all four of you. Run home. You still have time before your first shift at the hospital.”They all ran off, shifting further into the trees next to the bar.“I am sorry about that. They know better.” Silas seemed genuinely sorry.I nodded and finally couldn’t hold back my chuckle. “Come on in boys, we can talk.”“You talk to us like you’re older than us.” Nate shoved his hands in his pocket.“Let me tell you, I’ve lived much more than two of your lifetimes. Your little pack bubble wouldn’
“Noah, this isn’t…”“No, Sol. You don’t get to fucking play dress up and go off to fucking get closer to death.” Noah was yelling and I kept my face passive.I took a breath. “Noah, please remember we are in the presence of company.”“No! Fuck them! You are not fucking going! Last time you ended up in laid up for a month, Sol. A month and how much time did that actually take off your life? Hm? Two weeks? Three weeks? A month?”“Noah, please…” I looked pleadingly at Finn but there was anger reflecting in his eyes as well. His body language wasn’t much better.Noah stomped over to me and grabbed my arm. “Alpha, stop. Stop this bullshit. You’re already dying. What more can he want from you? More of your life? You’ve done enough.”Pulling my arm out of his grip, my patience finally wained. “I will do my duty, Noah. I am the First Alpha Prince and I will continue to serve my King as such until my last dying breath. Whether it be one month or eleven. It makes no fucking difference. I was ca
“Aelia, he’s your father.”“Yes, my father. Who was willing to sell one of his children off to the Hunters for protection of his pack. Let alone selling off numerous orphans before that.” I shoved an olive in my mouth. “He deserves to be put under the knife and tortured just like I was. However, I’m far more merciful and I will just kill him where he stands.”Maggie slapped me again. “Aelia, stop. That isn’t you and you know it.”I sighed. Over my time, I had done atrocious things. I destroyed Hunters locations and burned them to ash, only to make sure that the whole world knew the pieces of shit that they were. I ruined their names, their families, and I burned them to a crisp. But Maggie didn’t know that and it was not something I ever was going to tell her.Maggie was Nate’s aunt. She still thought of him as one of her sons. Nate’s father was my father’s Beta and Maggie’s sister ended up being his mate. They had Nate but one night there was an attack, Hunters, and they did a lot of
*** Silas POV ***Sam, Nate, Charles, and I sat at the bar on a Wednesday morning. Normally, we wouldn’t be here this early but we had some rumors that Noah and Finn needed some help. As much as I wasn’t happy with them, I also no longer wanted to kill them. But what I was witnessing with my own eyes was just pathetic.Noah had spilled going on three drinks now, while Finn hadn’t said a single word to us or to Noah, who obviously needed help. Finally, Nate huffed and got up, going around the bar, he put his hands over Noah’s.“Okay, look. You need some help.”Noah tossed the towel on the counter and threw up his hands. “I fucking give up. I give up.”“The hell is going on with you two?” I looked from Noah to Finn.Finn surprisingly was the one who answered. “She was supposed to be back ten days ago.”My eyes widened. Had it really been a few weeks since their third had left? I mean, she had walked out fully clad in the Alpha Prince uniform. That alone had been shocking but when Noah t
I bolted up from bed, drenched in sweat. Taking deep gasping breaths, I tried to slow my heart rate back down. Swinging my legs over the edge off the bed, I put my head in my hands. 'Just a dream, Silas. Nothing more.' 'It’s not a fucking dream, Eros. It’s the memory of them taking my sister. Of watching her get hauled off on the shoulder of some rogues.' I took a deep breath and shook my head. There was no way I was going back to sleep tonight. Getting up, I threw on a shirt and headed out of my room. The house was dark and quiet. Finally looking at the clock, it was 3 a.m. Heading out the back door, I shifted and took off into the forest. I needed to run some of this feeling off. Nate had dredged up memories I would rather forget and thus the nightmares plagued me. Heading south, I ran and realized I was headed towards the pools that we used to go to as kids. They were off the territory but the three of us used to sneak off and go swimming during the summer. I passed the territor
Sam found me first. He didn’t quite seem to know what to make of me, sitting in the very back of our underground dungeon. I don’t know how long I had been there but it was sure as hell at least for a day. There was no light, no windows and it smelled like death but it was a comfort. I knew this place. It was somewhere I was familiar with. My hands shook as I continuously replayed the conversation with Solaris in my head. Eros had already backed off after I screamed at him multiple times. He told me he didn’t tell me just for this reason but he didn’t think that she would tell me. Not after we learned she was dying. Solaris was dying and supposedly she was my dead sister. No matter what, she would go from my dead sister to my dying sister and back to my dead sister. I cackled and shook my head, burying it between my knees. Everything in my life felt wrong. My body was exhausted and vibrated at the same time. I felt manic and completely unhinged while I hyper focused on every detail of
This is it. This is the end of Solaris' Reign and her story. I hope you all enjoyed and I'm so thankful for all of you who have stuck by over...really...these past twelve months. It's been crazy from illness, to being in the hospital, to having a baby, to still being really sick and him being sick. Then my daughter starting school. It has been a ride. Now having two kids, working through they very different personalities and being in a very different place from when we had her to where my husband and I are now. I'm lucky enough right now to do what I love. Writing is a passion for me. It's a love every since I was in middle school and I did go to college for creative writing as well. Does that make writing easier? Absolutely not. Does it make me faster? Absolutely not. But it does help me to craft better stories. One thing though is that I will NEVER abandon a book. I may take my time, I may rewrite or fix, but I will never abandon. I love writing and sometimes I wish I could just
I hopped the ledge as I saw Nate struggling to set her down. Coming up next to him, I got my hands under his arms to help with the weight. Noah came on the other side and all three of us lifted her onto the wood structure. Finn came up behind us and stepped up, taking the a small stone and pressing it to the white silk. It must have been infused with some type of magic because the white silk faded. It happened so quickly I didn’t have time to prepare. My body started to shake and I reached out, grabbing the closest thing for stability which happened to be Nate’s shoulder. They had dressed her in her uniform. It was a far cry from the bloodied and mud-caked version that I carried back to the tent. Her face looked peaceful, and even though you could see how thin she had gotten, there wasn’t the immense dark circles. She didn’t look sick. With the eyelids down, I wondered if they left her eye in. Her leg and arm were missing but I knew what originally was holding that together was her.
Tucking in my shirt, I took a couple of deep breaths. I hadn’t really slept last night. My mind and heart being pulled very which way. It was frustrating and exhausting. Today though, all I needed to do was to show up. Grabbing my watch off my dresser, I was securing the clasp on my wrist when the door to my bedroom opened.“Alpha, are you almost ready?”“Yeah, one second, Sam.”Turning, I started to walk towards him but he stared at me, looking me up and down. “Alpha…are you…not going to wear a tie?”I smirked. “Are you seriously criticizing how I’m dressed?” For the second time in two days, my jokes didn’t land.Sam frowned and furrowed his brow. “You look like you’re going into the office to work. You can’t…”Charles put his hand on Sam’s shoulder and pulled him back. “Why don’t you go get Nate? We will meet you down at pools.”Sam looked up at his mate and nodded, disappearing down the hall. Charles walked into the room and my eyes narrowed. We hadn’t spoken since he slammed the d
I didn’t even bother to pretend like I was working. Sam hadn’t given me any work anyways. The whole pack seemed at a standstill. Either they had come to know Aelia as the plucky fun bartender who they liked or, like my warriors, learned just how much of a badass she was. Was. Past tense. My sister was gone, again. Again she slipped through my fingers. Again she protected us. Again she gave everything up for us. But this time, there was no room for hope. She was gone for good this time. Again I couldn’t save her.The Alpha King had been called and was already marching out here to provide her with a proper funeral. Finn just about lost it when the Alpha King tried to take her body back to the castle. Finn was right though. She came here for a reason and stayed here for a reason. My lips thinned. She stayed here for us. We were the reason and now her soul would be given to the Moon Goddess from her favorite place. The place that I had originally found out that she was my sister.My messa
*** Silas POV ***Her breathing stopped. Aelia’s body fell slack in the lap of Finn, her head falling to one side. Finn screamed as Noah held onto him for dear life. Tears streamed down my face as I stared at what was my sister. Nate was curled up into a ball, wailing as he held her hand to his chest. My heart felt like it had been torn from my chest. A silver bullet straight into my heart. It hurt to breath, hurt to be alive. Eros howled within me, crying as only he knew how.She was within my grasp. I finally had her. There were so many more things I needed to tell her, wanted to tell her and that I wanted to ask her. Force her to spill all her secrets that she held from us. Ask her advice on moving forward and how I was supposed to handle the pack. Now, she was gone. My baby sister was gone.When my father said she died, I was angry. That anger drove me and helped me move forward. It’s what I lived on and thrived on. Seeing Aelia again, watching her smile, watching her be happy and
My sword swiftly beheaded a Hunter before plunging into heart of the one next to him. One of my swords had broken and been lost a long time ago. Looking around, it was still raining. It hadn’t even let up once. Bodies littered the ground. We had made headway, pushing the Hunters back and now we just piled them up one after another. My breath showed in the storm and it had dropped even colder from when we started a couple hours ago.Another Hunter attacked me but I nimbly turned, easily using my strength to remove his upper half from the lower half. His body fell in two as his blood sprayed all over me. My eyes still glowed, I still held onto the power as it was the only thing holding me up. The moment I let go was the moment I would leave this world. The magic in my arms, legs, and eye were even crackling under my power.I was able to see every Hunter and their aura within the area. The rain wouldn’t help my real eye but it didn’t hinder my magic one. Most of my boys had stayed in for
It started to pour sometime in the evening and only got worse as it dawned on the third day. I sat in my chair my fingers laced together, my chin resting on them. My eyes glazed over as I stared nothing, listening to the rain hit the top of my tent. Three days I hadn’t slept. I’d filled my time with everything but sleeping. Battle plans, final checks of troops, Silas’ territory terrain, the endless trails of goodbyes from my warriors. Nate had come at the behest of a few of my warriors. They were worried when I started mulling about the tents looking like the grim reaper was holding me up. He came in, didn’t say a thing as he picked me up and deposited me back into my chair inside my tent. Staying with me for a couple hours, we spoke about everything and nothing. We talked about the old house that we dreamed as kids. I shook my head as Nate tried to remember the color schemes of all the bedrooms. For a while, it was a break from the current and impending situation. Eventually though,
Nate’s arms moved and I had expected Silas to pick me up. But instead, the soothing electricity coursed through me as Nate pulled me close to his chest and stood. His body was shaking slightly but after a couple steps, it was far sturdier. “Where to Aelia?”I swallowed, trying to wet my dry mouth. “They should have set up the Alpha Prince tent for me.”“Aelia! Just come home!” Silas was standing but it was Keri, who moved from behind the tree she had been leaning against, that spoke.She put a hand on Silas’ shoulder. “She belongs there, Alpha. She belongs with her men. With her family.”Silas’ shoulders dropped and he moved out of the way. Nate started to walk, not saying anything. We wove our way through the trees and at one point I closed my eyes, leaning my head against mate.As much as my life has turned out like this, I couldn’t image if that hadn’t happened. If the Hunters had never come. When I was four, I knew Nate was my fated mate but I also saw the golden braid connecting
My legs were crossed as I sat in my chair that looked more like a throne with how we were set up. I had my hands intertwined in my lap and my back was straight. Keri said I had to choose what I needed to do but I worried about hurting them still. I loved Noah and Finn. They were my best friends, my partners, my Betas and my lovers. We had gone through so much together and hurting them was never my intention no matter how much it seemed like my actions did.Keri was on my right, Nate and Silas were standing to my left. Behind me, Colton and Dylan were standing to step in front of me. Some of my warriors who weren’t actively engaged in planning, or dealing with other orders, were standing to attention in the clearing. All armed and ready.I looked up at Keri. “Whatever you do, don’t hurt Finn.”“If he comes after you, Alpha, I’m going to put him in his place. I will avoid all vitals and his pup but a broken arm won’t hurt anything but him. Noah is free game.” She almost looked gleeful.