Ethan
“She doesn’t want to see you.”
“Are you serious?”
“She needs time.”
“She doesn’t get the luxury of being selfish when she pulls a stunt like that.” I growled. Jennivah didn’t deserve the attitude and I knew better. But I couldn’t help myself.
“She needs time,” Jennivah stressed. “Go enjoy your evening. I’m sure you can find something else to do.”
Her tone was light and playful, a direct opposite of the scolding I had received trying to break in behind the reception counter when Lorrie wouldn’t give
EthanI hadn’t had enough time in the last few days to fathom what it would be like to be with Justin. But I had time well before I had a mate to think about it, in the quiet times when I had a chance to admire the fine male figure of someone else at the Lodge, or when we were forced to study the head shots of the challengers. I wondered if I would have stopped on Justin’s picture if I had been looking at the photographs of the Alpha Challengers as I had studied, rather than the Beta ones. Would I have known then? That this dark and attractive male would be my mate?I turned to him, his massive form now flooded with low lamplight. Would I have recognized the face of my mate in a picture? Would something in me have known he was the one?On those days that I had allowed myself to admire the male form, I hadn’t imagined it
LoThe next week passed in somewhat of a blur. I spent most mornings by myself in the quiet of the pack archives, crawling through encyclopedias--and in rare cases, translating them from Latin. It was long and tedious work, best done without company.My concentration was typically punctuated in the noon hour with the arrival of Perrin, typically sweating with the exertion of running the few miles from the Lodge to spend a portion of his lunch break assisting.“Why don’t you just get Charlie to bring you here?”“Faster this way,” he said with a cocky grin.And then I set him to work.The first day it was largely moving boxes. Marge’s gnarled hands an
PerrinIt hadn’t sat well, what Lo had said. Jaz had held too much from me. We were supposed to be talking more, to make this all work. And I hear that she’s sharing things about my Beta with Lo that she hasn’t bothered telling me?I texted her, asking her to join me for a walk. Part of me didn’t want her being in the pack house tonight, a gut feeling that I couldn’t quite explain. Walking gave us direction, momentum of some kind that we just weren’t getting outside of the bedroom.She agreed to meet me when she got off work. I had switched out patrol so that I could get to the bottom of this. While nothing typically came before my sense of duty and running patrol, this thing with Jaz was stuck in my head and throwing all of my concentration.“Hey,&rd
Deidre“How did it go?”“She is one unhappy she-wolf,” he muttered, waving at Cynthia to shut the door.“Which one?”“Both,” he said, agitation all over his face.He has spoken to Mistra to inform her about Jaz joining the ‘inner circle,.’ I snorted at the thought. “It’s not like she had a choice in the matter.”Jason’s face was dark. “I don’t think she quite sees it that way.”“What do you mean?”“I think she’d rather…” he didn’t finish the sentence. My blo
Lo He stared blankly after I finished. I wasn’t sure if he was still breathing. “Ethan?” Perrin prodded gently, approaching him slowly. Ethan blinked. “You think I was poisoned?” I sighed, suddenly lighter, as if the weight of telling him was off of my shoulders. “That’s a rather direct way of putting it, but yes.” “And you don’t know by what?” “No.” “Or by whom?” “Nope.” “And your research hasn’t turned anything up?” “Not entirely.”
LoThe next several days passed with more joy and ease and contentment than I had felt in awhile. It felt so at home in the archives, spending time with my two best friends. It was as though everything in our lives had finally begun to settle.Both Perrin and Ethan continued to help me during breaks from training, which, not that we were a month out from the Sacred Call, had become even more grueling and intense. I caught both of them more than once dozing with their heads on leather bound volumes, prodding them gently awake only when the danger of their drool would have ruined the books.The medical textbook hadn’t turned up as much help as I had hoped. There was no section on poison origins, and the section on anticodes were limited to plant poisonings. I had a hard time believing Ethan had been slashed to death by a venomo
EthanI didn’t care how bad it smelled. I took a strong swig of the whiskey, if only to have something to do with my hands. That, and to keep them from shaking.It tasted horrible, burning as it went down. I thought of Kira. How could she stand this stuff?I shuddered, draining the glass as if the smell of the alcohol would calm my mind.“Ethan?”Justin’s voice was gentle and tentative. I wasn’t sure how long I had been quiet. Lo and he had both sat still, across from me in the giant living room of Justin’s suite. The sun had set long ago, but as if not to want to disturb me, no lamps had been turned on. Instead, my gaze had followed out over the vast city of the Aperture pack, list from below, while
Lo“Can she see me?”“Are you hurt?” Lorrie stared protectively at me from behind the desk. I had a feeling that Jaz may have slipped her instructions as to how to deal with me. Or any of Perrin’s friends, for that matter.“No, but--”“Then probably not.”“Please,” I urged. “This isn’t about Perrin.”Lorrie’s eyebrow rose suspiciously, as if that’s exactly what she thought this was about.“Honest,” I said. “Jaz was helping me with some research questions in the pack archive and I know she’d want me to follow up with her.”
EPILOGUEMarge shuffled through the archive, her shoes making the only sound in the quiet stone building, echoing all the same through the high vaulted ceiling of the church building above. She raised a gnarled hand to the shelf and deposited the book after two tries, her hands shaking slightly with the cold. There were only a few books to return tonight. Far fewer than there had been when Leila had been here.So why had she waited until this late in the evening to do it? She just shrugged and pushed on, the slow creaking of the cart’s wheels punctuating the silence, her old watch on her pale wrist noting the time; 1:45 a.m.She really had no business being there so late. But she had gotten caught up in one of her research projects, spread out across her circulation desk and totally lost in thought until the rumble of her empty sto
Perrin“How long is it going to take?”I sat on Lo’s bed as she shoved clothes into her suitcase. “Maybe a week? I’m not sure.”“Why don’t you just leave all of that stuff here?” I pointed at the suitcase. “It’s not like you’re not going to bring it back.”She heaved a heavy sigh, full of fake exasperation. “I still have to pack it to move it down the hall. It’s just easier if I do it all at once.”“Nah. Let’s just throw it all in some garbage bags and unpack later.”She laughed. “Hand me those shoes?”I strode over and picked a pair
Perrin “Because I never want to create a monster like my father.” Silence hung in the room. I digested each word, the implications of it. “But you’re not…” I said, more for myself than for her. “No, I’m not. He never got his hands on me. My little brother made sure of that.” And even though she spoke in a viscous, quipping way; there was a hint of something grateful in her tone. “So he won’t be anything like him!” I said, assuring myself more than anything. “Does it matter?” She snapped, regaining her typical composure. “If my father’s insane lust for power is hereditary, then it’s best that the blood line ends with me. At least my brother won’t be breeding any offspring considering he’s gay–” sh
Perrin I glanced at my phone, then at Lo. We had made love for several hours, refusing to stop until we had our fill of each other. But each time hadn’t felt like enough, leaving us drained and happy but wanting more. After one particularly hot session in the middle of my bed involving whipped cream, I pulled her close to me, blissfully peaceful with her cradled in my arms. I felt her stomach growl against my hands. And apparently hungry. I swept my mouth to her ear and felt her shiver against me, goosebumps appearing up and down her body. I fought the impulse to warm her with every inch of mine. “Do you want me to get you a snack?” I said, and waved the small can of whipped cream in front of her face so she could see. She hummed lazily in my
PerrinAnd it had happened like that.I recalled the broad strokes for my friends.“You what?” Ethan said, shocked and nearly angry. “You can’t make that kind of promise!”Justin shook his head sagely. “That’s free reign, Perrin. And a dangerous move, backing out of every challenge. It puts you at a huge disadvantage if anyone trespasses on your territory.”“Or attacks on your land,” Ethan said.“Or poses a border dispute,” said Kira.“How will you expand?” Ethan asked, c
PerrinI tried to cover the nail marks she had left on my shoulder with a spare set of scrubs from Deidre’s office. It was no use. The scrubs were too small, tugging comically at my shoulders and Lo’s pink cheeks and ruffled hair couldn’t be fixed.We had retreated long enough to ourselves, and I pulled us back into the world of the living and down the hall, walking hand in hand as we rejoined our friends.Ethan smirked when he saw us. “Nice.”Kira rolled her eyes, glancing at her imaginary watch. “Couldn’t you two wait?”“At least get a shirt,” Ethan added, eyeing my bare chest. I had ditched the scrubs, unable to get them over my chest.
PerrinWe didn’t talk as much, even though that had been the plan.I had taken one of the chairs opposite Deidre’s desk, hoping to keep my brain thinking platonically for as long as possible. But part of me was still in shock. I could smell the smell of her coconut shampoo. See the glimmer of her earrings in the desk lap. And I had felt the tips of her fingernails as I held her hand; the short ones that she chewed on when she was reading and lost in thought.But I knew it was definitely her the moment I felt my head slightly dizzy with the draft of warm honeysuckle, intoxicatingly perfect.I wasn’t shy, needing to have her by my side. I pulled her easily into my lap, and she didn’t protest, as if still quite unsure that all of this was really happening either. She swun
PerrinAs soon as Mark dismissed the crowd, the crowd had begun to descend from the stands in droves. It hadn’t taken long for Lo to find me, fighting the current and pushing her way against the flow of teaming bodies and up to the platform.I sensed her, long before she ran up the platform stairs, Justin hot on her heels. I dove past my father, darted behind Mark and ran to meet her, not caring for any protocol or public indecency. I needed her.Her scent hit me first. It made my blood sing and my heart beat so fast I thought it would stop.And then there she was. The sight of my home and my heart, running and slipping across the wet platform towards me.My weight almost buckled beneath me, the unexpected reality of seeing her here st
Justin The arena was packed. I could hear an excited roar from the crowd from behind the Lodge, drifting over the top of the massive building and floating through the chill evening air. Lo parked illegally in front of the entrance to the building. Now was not the time to point it out. A series of battered and limp-hanging banners and signs showed the way around to the back. It had rained today, apparently, and we made progress towards the arena as quickly as we could, sludging through mud and the trampled pathway. A stadium had been erected, filled to the brim with stands of onlookers, cheering and applauding in a range of darkened colors, soaked from the rain. Despite the bad weather, it hadn’t dampened their spirits. The crowd had been here all night, awaiting the results. Colored tents for each challenging pack were spaced ou