Hey everyone! I'm back from my long work week. What do you think of Malin's first attempt at making dinner? I feel so bad for her.
Today, like every day since the war, has been long and exhausting. I haven’t seen Malin all day and I need a dose of my mate to energize me for the rest of the evening. When I ask if she’s joining me for dinner, she let’s me know she’ll be there soon. I smile at the excitement in her voice as I drag myself into the dining area, forcing myself to stand tall. I notice that everyone is silent, more silent than usual. I stop, taking in the emotions of the pack. There’s an uneasiness, a feeling of repugnance, but underneath that, there’s a desire to please. “What’s going on?” I ask the room. I’ve never felt these emotions from my pack before. Everyone looks around the room at each other, at the bowls of food in front of them, anywhere but at me. I growl softly, just enough to let them know I’m not going to let them ignore my question, but not enough to scare the pups who are here and also picking at their food. “Alpha….” one of my warriors begins. “We don’t want to offend our Luna,”
“I ruined dinner,” she cries, her tears running down my chest as I gently begin rocking the swing back and forth. I press my lips against her forehead. “It was your first try. You said so yourself. You’ll get better,” I tell her softly. She shakes her head. “It was supposed to make the pack feel better, comfort food because of everything that has happened. I can feel how sad everyone is and I just wanted to do something nice for them, and I ruined it,” she says and by the end, she’s sobbing again. I hold her while she cries, rocking her gently as the night breeze blows over us. “The pack knows why you did this, Malin. They appreciate your efforts. If they didn’t, trust me, they wouldn’t have tried to eat it,” I tell her. “And you’re so tired," she begins as if I didn't say anything. "You’re taking on so much of the pack’s emotions, taking it all on yourself since I’m not your official Luna yet and now, here you are having to console me too. I bet you wish you were mated to someon
I can’t believe how kind and generous the pack is being to me. I should have trusted Cohen, it was his pack first, after all. But I just assumed that in their grief, the pack would be angry at one more thing that went wrong. I couldn’t have been more incorrect in my judgement of them. Maybe it shouldn’t make a difference, but knowing that Cohen has his own insecurities helps me to feel better about my own. Unlike Cohen, who is an incredible Alpha, I know that I’m a terrible Luna. Well, maybe not terrible at everything, but definitely terrible in the kitchen. This morning, I wake up with Cohen and we head to warrior training. The place where I feel the most confident, other than at my mate’s side, is on the sparring field. As a Guardian, my family has been training me to be the best fighter I can be since I was born. When my father went easy on Quinn and I, my mother battered hard against us, knowing that we could take it and more. So, as I walk out onto the training field with Cohen
It was great getting to spend time with Uncle Liam. He and my father have been close my entire life, so he’s very familiar with the inner workings of this pack. So, while I know that he’s checking to see if I need anything from an Alpha’s perspective while my father is away, I also know that he’s here to talk to me about his daughter. It doesn’t take him very long to the get to the point. “Malin seems a bit…unsettled.” I sigh. Rather than sit across from him at my desk, I sit beside him in a seating area where we can speak more casually. I sip my bourbon thinking through my response. My mate is working hard to become independent, and I don’t want to undermine that by speaking to her father behind her back. Uncle Liam is a fixer. If something’s wrong, if you need something done, someone checked, someone taken down, he’s your guy. The only subtle part of him comes from Aunt Angel. There’s nothing subtle about Uncle Liam. He’s all Alpha and you get exactly what you see with him. He sip
I’ve grown up with the children of the Guardians. Celebrating birthdays, Alpha ceremonies, and mate bonds is something that all of our packs have done. Since our families are so close, I’ve always known whose birthday was when, which is how I know that Cohen’s birthday is coming up soon. Now that he’s an adult, his birthday won’t be celebrated by anyone other than our pack, although I’ll invite his brother and sister and check to see if Aunt Cara and Uncle Rik will be home in time to join us, and since this is a perfect opportunity to contact my twin, I go to my office and dial her number. “Safe Haven pack, how may I help you?” she answers. “Is this Luna Quinn?” I ask. “Malin!” “How are you, my sister?” “I’m doing okay, still learning this Luna stuff.” “I hear you. It’s not as easy as Mom and Leana made it look.” “It definitely isn’t. Did mom and dad stop by before their big vacation?” “They did. It was nice. I didn’t realize how accustomed I was to talking out my problems wit
I wasn’t sure if Malin would remember my birthday, but I should have known that she would. That’s the kind of person she is, the kind who doesn’t forget things like birthdays. The kind of person who will have amazing parties for our pups so that the pack can celebrate them, but also so that our pups know that their parents care enough to remember the important things in life. Tonight, my sweet mate is taking me out to dinner. I couldn’t be more thrilled. A night alone with my mate and we’re going to Ethereal, the only upscale restaurant in our local area. It’s not the upscale restaurant that has me excited, it’s that I’ll be walking in with my mate, and I’ve seen Malin dressed up on rare occasions. She’s the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen on a normal day. Dressed up for dinner, on my birthday? Wowza! I’ll have the most gorgeous woman in the world on my arm tonight and I can’t wait to show her off. Knowing that my mate will look stunning, I do my best to make sure that I look good
Malin and I have an incredible dinner. The entire time, I can barely drag my eyes away from her, watching her as she tells me about everything that is going on with her, all the things that she’s been doing around the pack, all the meals she’s been trying and failing at. I take every opportunity I can to touch her, stroke her cheek, hold her hand, or kiss her. Each time, she leans into my touch, reaches out so I can touch her, and by the end of dinner, I’ve once again recharged by being with my mate. I feel lighter just having spent this time with Malin. “Did you want to see a dessert menu?” the waiter asks. “Actually, we have dessert back at the pack,” Malin tells him. When he leaves to get the check I turn to her. “Is my dessert apple flavored?” I ask her, knowing my eyes have darkened again. She knows that she tastes like a delectable apple pie to me. “Maybe,” she says, and I love the teasing tone in her voice. After we pay the check, we walk through the crowded dining room aga
I was so happy that Cohen’s birthday was a success. Not only that, I got to spend some unexpected time with my twin. Clint was great, enjoying his time with Cohen and the pack, so Quinn and Riley helped me to manage the party. I kept watch over Cohen, making sure that he was having a good time and it really seemed that he was. “Wow, your pack adores you as much as ours adores Quinn, Malin,” Riley says as we fill drinks for the pups who are running around and dancing to the music. “And Emerson hasn’t taken his eyes off of you tonight, Quinn,” she says in a teasing voice. “So, things are good with you two?” I ask her. I’ve noticed that my twin hasn’t seemed as happy lately. "Yes," she says, smiling at her mate. His lips spread into the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on his face, which is to say, barely more than a twitch. Emerson, the stuffy Alpha, doesn’t smile. “Oh, they’re much better than good. I’m not sure what got into our stoic Alpha but he’s become much more openly affectionat
One Year Later If anyone had told me when I was growing up that my life would get better after I met my mate and became a Luna, I would have laughed at them. I was raised in a loving family, surrounded by parents, brothers, sisters, and pack members who loved me. But none of that comes close to the love of a mate, none of that comes close to feeling the love and adoration of a pack that is yours to care for. Some might feel overwhelmed by the pressure of having to care for so many. For me, it feels like home. “What’s got that smile on your face, my twin?” Quinn asks me. We’re currently in the middle grounds, watching our oldest pups, both boys, running around while our twins rest in their carriers beside us. I guess as twins, it makes sense that both Quinn and I would have twins. What we didn’t expect is that we’d both have a boy first, and then we’d both get pregnant with twin girls. Our packs will never be the same if Cohen and Emerson are any indication. Cohen loves our son, but
Malin’s birthday was a huge success. Everyone had a great time, including my mate and her twin. I spoke to Emerson while we watched our mates greet their family and we agreed that I would have Malin’s Luna ceremony on Friday night while he would have Quinn’s on Saturday. I was surprised that Emerson agreed so readily with me going first, but I’m thrilled. The sooner that my mate is officially my Luna, the better. After Malin’s birthday, the pack began working on her Luna initiation and the party afterward. The same groups of people are invited and because becoming a Luna is so important to a pack, and our packs are so close, I expect everyone to attend both ceremonies. “My sister seems happy,” Cayd says from his chair across from me. “I had some trepidation about her success with being a Luna, but she seems to have settled in pretty well. Your pack obviously adores her.” The night after Malin’s party, we’d had our movie night. I’ve been busy, focusing on Malin and her ceremony, but
I can’t believe that everyone is here. I expected Quinn, of course, and my parents and Reagan. There was a strong possibility that Rich would be here too, but not Leana, Xander, or Cayd. First thing I do is race to my twin. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” We’d already spoken earlier. I’d been so excited to not only wish her a happy birthday but to tell her that I was now a marked and claimed woman. She had excitedly told me that she was too. “Let’s see!” she says, pulling back and looking at my neck. I realize that while my sister and I aren’t identical twins, we unknowingly dressed in nearly identical dresses today and she must have had her hair done by sprites as well. The only difference I can tell between us is that the sprites have accented her natural curl while my hair is still straight. Even the flowers in her hair look like the ones in mine. As she looks at my mate mark, I look at hers. Then we both squeal and hug again. “Can I get in on this?” our brother Cayd asks. “Cayd!” we yell i
Every day somehow gets better and better with my mate. I thought sex with her was incredible before? Oh hell, no. The explosion that my body had when I sank my teeth into her marking spot was amazing. Not only was it the most intense orgasm I’d ever had until that moment, but Malin’s raw power flooded into me. I’m an Alpha, I’m already strong, but her power? Holy Mother Moon Goddess! Of course the moment she sank her canines into my marking spot, the intense orgasm I’d just had went out the window and THAT orgasm was the most extreme orgasm I’ve ever had. Both of us had ridden the wave of our orgasms, both of us needing to flood the other’s system with our venom. When we finally pulled our canines out of each other’s necks, our scents were so blended that I couldn’t tell where she stopped and I started. It’s the most perfect feeling I’ve ever had. She’s mine and now no one can ever question it. Now, I’m laying here with this perfect woman, my perfect mate, our perfect Luna lying on t
Tomorrow is my birthday and I’m so excited. All day, Cohen’s death-by-chocolate cake scent has been getting stronger. I know he’s my mate, I expected his scent to become even more mouth-watering than it has been, but I’ve become so distracted that I can hardly focus on anything. ‘Let’s go for a run. I’m antsy and I want to get out,’ Keena says to me. ‘Antsy in a bad way?’ I ask as I walk outside, finding a place to strip before letting Keena forward. ‘Antsy like I can smell my mate and I want to ravage his body,’ Keena says. ‘That’s a good thing,” I tell her. ‘Not when our marks won’t stay until midnight tonight.’ ‘I don’t think Cohen is planning to mark us at midnight. He mentioned waiting until after our birthday party.’ ‘I can think of a few ways to get him to change his mind,’ Keena says, picking up the patrol trail and racing full on past the patrols, yipping a hello, before continuing on. ‘Show off,’ I tell her. ‘We’ll become their Luna this weekend. I don’t want to leav
This birthday, more than any others, will be the most important birthday of Malin’s life. Not only will she turn 18, but she’ll fully recognize me as her mate and I’ll finally, finally be able to leave my mark on her neck and make her my Luna. I love this woman, adore her with everything in me, so I know that her birthday has to be perfect. I call Emerson, knowing that he’ll be feeling the same about Quinn. And since he and I are mated to twins, I can expect that we’ll be doing a lot of birthdays together for the rest of our lives. “You’re calling about our mates’ birthdays?” he asks by way of greeting. “You got it. It needs to be special and they need to have something together,” I say. “What about their Luna ceremonies?” “I thought we’d plan them for the weekend after their birthday.” “They’ll want to be there for the other. We should plan to have their ceremonies on different nights.” “Agreed. I’m planning to mark Malin on her birthday,” I tell him. “Same,” he says. We spen
I was so happy that Cohen’s birthday was a success. Not only that, I got to spend some unexpected time with my twin. Clint was great, enjoying his time with Cohen and the pack, so Quinn and Riley helped me to manage the party. I kept watch over Cohen, making sure that he was having a good time and it really seemed that he was. “Wow, your pack adores you as much as ours adores Quinn, Malin,” Riley says as we fill drinks for the pups who are running around and dancing to the music. “And Emerson hasn’t taken his eyes off of you tonight, Quinn,” she says in a teasing voice. “So, things are good with you two?” I ask her. I’ve noticed that my twin hasn’t seemed as happy lately. "Yes," she says, smiling at her mate. His lips spread into the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on his face, which is to say, barely more than a twitch. Emerson, the stuffy Alpha, doesn’t smile. “Oh, they’re much better than good. I’m not sure what got into our stoic Alpha but he’s become much more openly affectionat
Malin and I have an incredible dinner. The entire time, I can barely drag my eyes away from her, watching her as she tells me about everything that is going on with her, all the things that she’s been doing around the pack, all the meals she’s been trying and failing at. I take every opportunity I can to touch her, stroke her cheek, hold her hand, or kiss her. Each time, she leans into my touch, reaches out so I can touch her, and by the end of dinner, I’ve once again recharged by being with my mate. I feel lighter just having spent this time with Malin. “Did you want to see a dessert menu?” the waiter asks. “Actually, we have dessert back at the pack,” Malin tells him. When he leaves to get the check I turn to her. “Is my dessert apple flavored?” I ask her, knowing my eyes have darkened again. She knows that she tastes like a delectable apple pie to me. “Maybe,” she says, and I love the teasing tone in her voice. After we pay the check, we walk through the crowded dining room aga
I wasn’t sure if Malin would remember my birthday, but I should have known that she would. That’s the kind of person she is, the kind who doesn’t forget things like birthdays. The kind of person who will have amazing parties for our pups so that the pack can celebrate them, but also so that our pups know that their parents care enough to remember the important things in life. Tonight, my sweet mate is taking me out to dinner. I couldn’t be more thrilled. A night alone with my mate and we’re going to Ethereal, the only upscale restaurant in our local area. It’s not the upscale restaurant that has me excited, it’s that I’ll be walking in with my mate, and I’ve seen Malin dressed up on rare occasions. She’s the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen on a normal day. Dressed up for dinner, on my birthday? Wowza! I’ll have the most gorgeous woman in the world on my arm tonight and I can’t wait to show her off. Knowing that my mate will look stunning, I do my best to make sure that I look good