I expected to find myself in chains, or a cell at the very least, but this has been more like a vacation so far—luxury cars and comfortable accommodations. Such a stark contrast to how Amalea was held. Another undeserved perk of being at the top of the tower. Maybe I took a step up of my own merit, but I was never at the bottom, and the difference rank makes is a hard reality I’ve ignored for far too long. Even so, unjust as it is, I can’t say I’m wishing for a dungeon. I’m also learning that nothing moves quickly within the council. Sure, they were quick to bring me in, but it seems that was just for public appearances. Damage control for Alicia’s choice to make a mockery of her own brother’s funeral. Now they are content to just keep me waiting. Maybe that’s the torture—keeping me here with nothing to do when I have so much that I need to do. Bore me to death. I haven’t even had a chance to give my side of the story, not that I have any idea what story Alicia gave to refute it. I’m
Anthony was true to his word. A guard came to let me know I was free to return to my pack within hours after he left. Getting the council to agree to meet with me has taken much longer, and I’m not leaving until they give me an audience.That last book was a truly interesting read indeed. It’s a record of the pack bloodlines going back generations. I was a bit disappointed to find the pages covering some of the older Darkwood lines missing, but Blood Moon’s history was present in full detail, and Darius is looking pretty youthful for someone in his 80s.I’m curious how he’s managed to explain that, but then, Blood Moon has always been reclusive, and his father ruled longer than most alphas manage to hold control. The man was elderly by werewolf standards, though he looked it. Darius has really only been in the public eye for around a decade. No matter how he’s kept his secret under wraps, I’m about to rip it open for the world to see. A hybrid at the head of one of the most powerful
An angel. She looks like an angel when she’s sleeping. I failed miserably in my attempt to stay away from her. That lasted all of three days before I found myself back in her room, and I was shocked to find she didn’t mind me there. She even asked me to stay.The ring should have cleared her mind. Let her resist the effects of the venom and see me for what I am, but still, here she is, sleeping against my chest, completely at peace. I don’t deserve this. She deserves her freedom. I’ve begun letting some of the she-wolves she’s befriended visit with her, but I don’t know how to offer her more than that.The pack thinks she’s being punished here. That she’s my pet. I can’t just wipe that all away like the men who lost their lives at her hands don’t matter to me. They don’t. Those men deserved to die for how they treated her, but their family members don’t need to know that. I could have a rebellion on my hands.She stirs in her sleep, running her hand across my chest, and I feel my dick
I’ve dug up every record on every ruling ever made before the council and still haven’t found a way to challenge their decision and save Amalea. It’s unbelievable how much power our ancestors gave to them. It’s near absolute, and I’m running out of time.Darius’ own obsession with power is the only reason she’s not dead already. His refusal to hand her over is the only thing standing between her and a noose, and the last I heard he’s now facing an ultimatum—hand her over or lose his place in the alliance. Even Darius isn’t ballsy enough to risk facing our enemies without the support of the other packs.Of course, the council is playing a dangerous game. If Darius calls their bluff, they’ll leave our eastern borders weak. Blood Moon essentially is the eastern defense front. They could strip him of his title and keep his pack in the alliance, but if his warriors don’t reaffirm the action, it’ll not only be useless but may make other alphas question their authority. If they thought they
“I don’t have Stockholm’s syndrome,” I say with a laugh. “Darius isn’t what he seems. The terrible things he’s done, that he continues to do—I’m not making excuses for him—but I mean, he’s just as caught in the gears of the system as we are. Our culture made him what he is, and he doesn’t know how to be anything else.” Liza scoffs. “He’s an alpha. He can be anything he wants to be, and he decides what we are too. He’s not caught in the gears, Amalea, he’s pulling the levers.” “He wants to change things. He’s tried,” I argue. “Not very fucking hard from what I can see,” she counters. “I don’t know how you can stand to be near him after what he did to you, to all of us.” “I feel alive with him, free, like for the first time in my life I’m choosing my own fate, who I love, rather than being a slave to the mate bond.” Liza slumps against my shoulder and sighs. “Free? None of us are free.” “Does that include Darius?” I ask. She goes quiet, before pushing up off the bed and moving to leav
I want more than anything to tell her the truth, but if she knew, her walk to the gallows wouldn’t be the same. Her actions when they slip the bag over her head wouldn’t be genuine. The way we act when faced with the real end, when we look death in the eye, can’t be faked. This has to look real. She has to believe it's real, and it’s killing me. Worse, I need to make the world believe I care nothing for her. I already slipped up. The council agent clearly suspects I want her as more than payment for my lost men. His comments about James prove that. He tested me, and I failed. I can’t let my emotions get the best of me. I can’t let history repeat itself. I glance over at her. She’s still pretending to sleep to avoid talking to me like she’s done the entire trip so far. Even at the rest stop last night, she wouldn’t say a word to me. I can see the anger in her features from here, but she’s still angelic, stunning. If I were a better man, I’d kill the council agent, and run away with he
Here I am, back where I started. Is there where I belong? Did fate put me here, or did I? It’s funny. We spend our lives fighting to move up in life one step at a time. A better education, a better place in the pack, a better house, a better life—and for what?Staring at the stars through the tiny, barred window of the same cell I sat in years ago now on the eve of my execution, I can’t help but wonder if I ever had a chance. If I ever had a choice, or if my life has been a mere brushstroke in a masterpiece of existence meant for someone else. Has anything I’ve ever done made a difference? Will anyone remember my name? Darius might. James might. Both might not—might move on. Neither is willing to pay the cost, and our love will die as payment for their power.Will my children remember me? Did I give them what they need to make a difference in their existence? Is the masterpiece for them? I hope that it is. I hope that I did, and that hope is an ember warming my heart in this dark hour
I can’t sleep. I’ve been lying here for hours, and all I can do is watch her. She pretended to be asleep when I got back, but I could feel that she was awake. She’s avoiding me, and that hurts, being she thinks she has less than 24 hours to live.I shouldn’t have done it. I knew that when I was doing it. She wanted me to reject her, not mark her. I mean, being inside her did just feel so good I lost myself a bit, but if I’m being honest, it wasn’t exactly an accident. I wanted to mark her, and I wanted to do it before that prick Darius did. He’s going to shit a brick when he sees her neck tomorrow.Still, her emotions—whew. The mate bond is a mind fuck even half complete. I feel like I understand her less now than I did before. I guess you can’t expect someone to be all calm and easy to follow when they think they’re about to die.I wish I could tell her the truth. I almost slipped, almost. I wanted to tell her so badly that when I said I wanted to be with her forever, I meant it, and
“You can stay in my room!” Anna chirps as we come to a stop in front of a neon pink door. She swings it open to reveal an equally pink room. “I decorated it myself! It was one of the first spells Laumae taught me. She says I have an artist’s heart,” she continues proudly.“My room is next door, and Thomas is across the hall. There’s an empty room next to his for you. I wouldn’t stay in here if I were you. It looks like a pink elephant puked up Pepto,” Eric adds laughing. Anna gives him a death glare. “It does not! You’re just jealous you couldn’t figure out how to change your room!”He goes quiet and kicks a stuffed animal at his feet. Anna continues to show me all her treasures and triumphs oblivious to the nerve she’s struck in her brother. He continues to sulk for a bit before Anna mentions the training grounds, and he perks back up, tales of his newfound prowess with the bow and arrow pouring out of him.I soak up every word they say. Every expression they make. The way the light
Showered and in dry, clean clothes I feel much more like myself, albeit a far weaker version of myself. How long will it take to regain my strength I wonder? If I regain it. You certainly don’t hear tales of great rogue alphas in our histories. Is that because there are none, or because rogues don’t write history books? Time will tell.I eye the bed in the corner of the room. It’s strange to feel tired. Sleep has always been more of an optional pleasure for me than a necessity, but right about now, I feel as if I could sleep for a century. That would be one way to pass the time.Making my way over to the bed, I collapse really more than lie down, relieved to be off my feet, but just as I settle in and close my eyes, the door opens. Becca leans against the door frame with her hip. She doesn’t say anything at first, just watches me with her head cocked to the side. I sit up.“What?” I ask, trying not to let my annoyance show. I am her guest after all.“Just debating joining you in bed
The cold collision of my skin against rock jars me back into consciousness as the council guards walk away from me, leaving me in the mud with nothing but the echoes of their laughter. I knew this could happen. I just never believed it would.I push up out of the muck, trying to get a sense of where they’ve dumped me. Even that’s a struggle. I’ve never felt so weak, even when I was transitioning. Death hurt less than this. It’s as if a piece of every cell in my body has been violently ripped from me. It’s so quiet, startlingly alone, after feeling so many connections for so long.It’s no wonder there are so few rogue alphas. The few that survive the pack bonds breaking likely end things themselves just to escape the isolation. That won’t be me. I’m stronger than this. I can come back from this.The terrain is rocky here, and there’s a chill on the breeze, but no sounds of civilization. I’m not near a town. Mountain peaks peek over the trees around me. The road the guards brought me he
“Wait! Slow down!” I call out breathlessly to my strange guide as I struggle through the brush after him. I don’t know how far we’ve gone, but it feels like miles. Whatever I was dosed with may have worn off, but my body still feels foreign, like it belongs to someone else. Someone weak and slow. It doesn’t help that I have no shoes, and I’m constantly struggling to keep the cloak my guide gave me tied around me, but it is better than being naked.I nearly topple backward when he doubles back and pops up beside me—he certainly isn’t slow. “Have you seen others like me come from the mountain? Werewolves I mean? Two boys and a girl?” I ask, trying to distract myself from the creeping realization that I’ve now followed a fae creature deep into their wood. I’ve followed the enemy.He answers without hesitation—with an elvish stream of gibberish. I can’t understand him. His tone seems friendly at least. The confused look on my face as I try to puzzle out what he means must be clear because
My visit to the capital has gone a little differently this round. No luxury cars and comfortable accommodations, that’s for sure. Just cold dark walls and distrust. Worse, they’ve given me a cellmate this time—fucking Darius. Two days now, and he hasn’t said a word. He just sits there brooding. He’s plotting, I’m sure. That bastard is always plotting. His plotting got us into this. At least the council seems to view this matter with slightly more urgency than Alicia’s dramatic performance. We’re set to stand before them today. I still don’t know how I’m going to get out of this. Fuck, I still don’t understand what happened. All I know is it’s Darius’ doing somehow, and he’s got to pay. Thankfully, I’m not doomed to spend another awkward afternoon stuck in my cell. An omega gives us our daily bread and Darius gets his blood bag before a council agent escorts us to the meeting chamber. No one is working this time. All eyes are on us, and the looks we are getting are more than disappro
I can’t sense her anymore, but she can’t be dead. I felt her through the blood bond, followed our love all the way to a huge oak tree in the Dark Wood, but I couldn’t find her, and as dawn broke, I felt her move away before I lost her completely. I don’t understand any of this. Having fae blood explains her ability to shift into other animals, but not why I can’t feel her now. I can smell she was here. There’s an itch in my mind—something I used to know. Something familiar about her abilities. What have I been forced to forget, and what does it have to do with Amalea? It would take a powerful witch to cast an enchantment like this. To erase something from reality? That’s not child’s play. It’s not something that would be done on a whim or could be done by just anyone. It would have a price. Clouds gather overhead, casting a gloom over the forest as it begins to rain. I don’t want to, but I need to leave. I won’t figure out anything just sitting under this tree. I’ve been here for ho
It’s soft. Where—where am I? I should be dead. I try to open my eyes, but they feel heavy. I feel heavy, sleepy, distant from myself, like—I can’t think straight. My thoughts run from me, confuse me. Why is it soft? I can feel it all around me, against my skin, cradling me. Naked—I’m naked. Why? They hung me.I should be dead. It smells like soil, like earth, like home. Am I dead? Am I home? I have to open my eyes. Open. It takes all my strength, but slowly the world fades into view. Moss. The moss is soft. I’m below a tree, an oak tree.The realization sends a shot of sobering adrenaline through me, and my mind emerges from the haze—it’s not just any oak tree. It’s our oak tree! I’m laying at the tunnel entrance, but how did I get here? Who brought me here? Why am I naked? Why can’t I move?I try to wiggle my fingers, but they won’t budge, and my eyes flutter closed from the effort. My tears fall anyway. Who cares how I got here? I’m alive, and I’m home. I just need to sleep whatever
I can’t even look at her. I know if I do, I won’t be able to go through with this. Even if this isn’t a real execution. Fuck, even if she really does hate me—wants that asshole instead—she shouldn’t have to go through this. I can feel every step she takes. Her anger, confusion, hurt, fear, and now calm. She’s letting go. I just hope that I can bring her back.“The bag,” I manage, trying to keep my voice steady as I glance up at her—and that’s when I know. I feel it. A surge of defiance. I should have known her calm was just the eye of the storm. A smile plays across her perfect lips as she jumps off the platform before Jackson can put the bag over her head.She seems to fall in slow motion as I watch my world end. The council member will know. He’ll know she isn’t dead. He’ll know I tried to defy the council’s orders. They’ll kill her anyway, and me too maybe, if they don’t expel the pack from the alliance or both.I hear her bones snap, breaking me from my trance, but not at the end
I’ve had a lot of time to think—too much maybe. I wish that I had more time for so many things, but thinking isn’t one of them. The more I think about how I got here, about all the things that have been done to me, the angrier I get. Angry that I won’t get to do all the things I wanted in my life. That I won’t ever get to see my children again, to know if they’re alright, to see the people they’ll grow to be, to say goodbye. I’m angry that my own people put me here. That the leaders we chose to protect us built a system that uses us as fuel to create power for a few, for them. That I can’t do anything to change it, make it a better place for my children, for Liza, for everyone I love. That I’m letting them all down.“You didn’t eat your breakfast,” James muses beside me. I don’t need the mate bond to know he’s worried about me and that makes me even angrier. I hate him for putting his mark on me, for forcing fate on me, for being here right now instead of Darius.“I’m ready,” I repea