I poured a full glass of bourbon and chugged the whole thing. Setting the glass down gently on the table, I looked at Silas for the first time since I started talking. My eyes widened as his eyes met mine, tears streaming down his face. He was rigid, except that the glass in his hand trembled slightly. Panic started to set in and I scooted closer to him on the couch. Gently taking the glass out of his hand and setting it on the table, I brushed some of the tears from his cheeks.“Hey…hey…there is no reason to cry. It’s all in the past.”Silas shook his head for a quick moment before more tears spilled from his eyes. I hushed him, wiping them away with my left hand. His hands came up and wrapped around my shoulders, pulling me against him. My forehead ended up resting against his shoulder and I slowly wrapped my arms around him as well.“It’s okay, Sil. It’s okay.” It came out more of a whisper than anything.It seemed to break the dam though. His face buried in the side of my head and
*** Silas POV *** “Alpha, I was hoping to get you to take care of these before the end of the day.”Sam walked into my office. He wasn’t paying attention but pulling out a few pages from the bunches he had in his hands. When he looked up, he froze. Eros was the one sitting at the desk, pen in hand, doing paperwork.“I…um…Alpha…”“Yes, Gamma?” Eros voice came through low as he smiled at Sam.Sam stuttered. “I…I just…we were…is…”“Gamma, spit it out if you want me to do any work by the end of the day.”He cleared his throat. “A few of the guys would like to trade positions from morning patrol to night and vise versa. I’ve made the list of names but there is an odd man out for the switch so someone would either not get it or someone from the night would need to switch in the mornings.”“Understood. Place it here and I’ll take a look at it.” Eros tapped the top of the pile of papers to his right. “Anything else?”“Um…I…yes. Is everything okay?”Eros raised an eyebrow. “Everything is fine
The Crossroads were a place where you used to become an adult. It was off territory and only the big kids got to go because they were allowed to leave the territory. For a long time, it was a mythical place that the young kids fantasized about going. Over the past ten years though, Jackson had grown from a small town to more of a city. Now, that was the place where you could go to hang out if you were old enough to be off territory without your parents. The Crossroads became the thing of the past.There wasn’t much to it either. It just happened to be an plateau overlooking a lake. If you had the balls, you could jump off the edge into the lake. Otherwise, it was just a big open space, with no adults that we used to bring chairs, beers, smokes, and other shit to hang out. Outside the eyes of the adults and the pack.My truck was fairly large and since the dirt path hadn’t been used in so long, it was overgrown and I could hear a few tree branches scrap against it. But I pulled up to w
I sat at the outside picnic tables behind The Wayward Tap. Finn was manning the grill while Aelia was sitting with me. Noah was grabbing some ice and a small cooler. I had a beer in my hand and she was finishing off her drink. It was sunny but not too warm. Sam had tried to pin me down for work today but I snuck out early and headed into town. After running a couple errands, I stopped by to see Aelia. The bar was closed because she had found a good deal on some meat and requested Finn to barbecue it, which apparently was an all day sort of thing. After a couple beers, I now was involved with the process. Plus, Aelia said she would show me up since I was so quick to say I was stronger than her.She leaned back, stretching and closed her eyes. “It’s such a nice day out. Why can’t it always be like this?”“We would take it for granted if it happened every day.” Finn answered her over the flames he was stoking.I chuckled as she growled. “Finn, you suck. No one actually believes that shit
Storming off, she disappeared into the bar, the back door slamming shut behind her. Finn pulled me up by my underarm and I stood as straight as I could. He helped me back over to the bench and sat me down. I winced as the cracked or broken ribs shifted but I felt the throbbing headache from the knee to the eye. Aelia came back out with my clothes that I had changed from and a bag of frozen peas. She places the clothes on the table but gently placed the bag of cold peas on my eye.“Sorry. I wasn’t thinking about the level of power I was using.”Noah chuckled. “Yeah, no shit. He’s gonna have a time explaining his condition back at the pack. Man, we could be blamed for attacking an Alpha!”I snorted. “When I asked for it? No. I’ll make up something. It’s fine. I didn’t realize I’d get my ass beat so thoroughly.”Aelia helped me get dressed, allowing me to not move as much. I sat back on the bench, fully dressed, holding the peas to my eye as Finn served up the food. It was a pile of barb
*** Noah’s POV ***It was hard watching her. Solaris was cleaning a table after going over the whole bar three times now. I was getting a twitch in my eye just watching her. Finn was doing inventory since it was his week to do it before we made a full order. She had woken up this morning fairly weak, needing a massage to get her leg and arm moving. All this cleaning was just out of fear that if she stopped, so would her body.“Sol, stop. Seriously. It’s clean. For the third time.”Her eyes met mine and at first I could tell she was irritated but they softened to understanding.“Sorry, I…”I smiled at her, shaking my head. “I get it, you don’t need to explain. But if you over compensate and overdo it, it will only be worse tomorrow.” I held up the glass I was wiping down. “Dishes are done if you want to help me.”Solaris gave me one of her wry smiles before heading around the bar where I was leaning. We had a dishwasher behind the bar and I had the door down, wiping off any spots that
I stood at the stove. The potatoes I was frying up were turning a delicious golden brown as I flipped the cubed pieces around. We were opening a little late today and it gave us the rare opportunity to eat together. Since, it was my turn to cook, I decided on a simple Cubano sandwich with potatoes. Solaris had made horchata earlier so that would be added as well. The plates were already set out on the bar counter and I was finishing up then potatoes before doing a final assembly of the sandwiches.Finn was sitting on the bed, leaning back, talking to Solaris about our next trip to the castle. We’d been requested to attend a meeting there and possibly end up heading out of a mission if that was the reason for the summons. The Alpha King didn’t give Solaris much but apparently it was important enough that all the Alpha Prince’s needed to show up.“Maybe it’s going to be an all out battle against them?”Solaris hummed, standing between Finn and the kitchen counter. “I’d finally take out
Blinking, I stared at the door, then down at Solaris and then back at the door. Finn usually was easy to read. His emotions in the forefront but I was met by a wall when I tried to reach out through our bond. Walking over to the kitchen, I started to clean up the dishes after my now useless attempt to make dinner for all of us. I had to stop every couple minutes though. Fear gripping me. What if she stopped breathing? What if her heart stopped? I had to listen, confirm I could still hear it. I watched as the blankets rose and fell with her breathing. Once I was satisfied, I continued cleaning. Only for pure fear to strike me again after a minute, forcing me to stop, listen, and watch.Finally, after a few minutes of constant checking, I gave up doing anything. Walking over to the bed, I pulled back the covers and slipped in next to her. I’d put her a little more towards the center. Her usual spot was on the left side of the bed, Finn in the middle, and me on the right.
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.