The blonde smiled and leaned back in his chair. “Well, as I told you, I was disappointing to my parents. I’d been very strong and in our world, strength means everything. The other kids, mainly your brother and good old James, always picked me on. My mother and I had hoped when I could shift it would get better, but when the day finally came, I nearly died. I was just as weak of a wolf as I was in my human form. That’s when my father started with the insults and beatings,” he explained, taking the knife out again.
“If that wasn’t bad enough, after that day, your brother and James decided their usual pranks on me weren’t good enough. They took it upon themselves to make every day a living hell for me! Every single day, they had some pranks on me. The bigger the crowd, the better,” he snarled, stabbing the table furiously.
“Where is she, Kyle?” Lily heard someone ask. That voice was familiar, but she wasn’t sure from where.“Where is who?” Fluffy’s teasing voice replied. So his name was Kyle. She’d have to remember that if she ever escaped.“Don’t play dumb with me, boy! You know very well who,” the other demanded and Lily suddenly got very excited as she recognized the voice. He wasn’t the maker; he was one of the good guys! If he was here, everyone else probably was out hiding somewhere waiting for his order to rescue her. He’d save her!“Oh, you mean the pretty little piece of bait, Lily, I think is her name. Haven’t seen her,” Fluffy or Kyle responded. She started pounding on the door and shouting that she was in the bathroom.
James looked at the men before him; the werewolves were bound around their wrists with silver laced chains so they could not break free and the humans with normal handcuffs. All of them were on their knees in a straight line; there were a total of five werewolves and three humans.James kept his shoulders back in a rigid, erect position, glaring down on them, hoping to appear intimidating, and Tony was doing the same at his left. Andrew walked in front of them with an angry expression that James, if he didn’t know him better, would consider hateful. Doctor Thompson stood not far behind the alpha, glaring at all of them with an angry expression as well.He watched as Andrew began his speech to the werewolves. He started out kindly, promising that they would receive the highest level of mercy if they cooperated with him. James was sure some were about to speak, but something seemed to keep them quiet. The alpha let his disappointme
“Xavier Thompson?” James repeated, unable to believe what he was hearing. “But he’s been friends with your father since they were kids. He’s the beta and the pack’s doctor. Back when I escaped, he helped me recover.”“Apparently, Xavier has had something against my dad for a long time, and this is his plan for revenge. From what Greg tells me, he wants to be the alpha,” Tony explained.“How can you be so sure he is telling the truth, Tony? Maybe this is the psycho’s plan to divert our attention from him. If it’s Xavier and he wants to be alpha, why didn’t he attack you or Lacy instead of me, Greg, and Lily? Greg and I have no sway over Andrew and Lily may be like his daughter, but she was only a human. Why would he plan a trap for himself and head a search party for Lily?” James
He could’ve found her and taken her home, James reasoned. With one final deep calming breath, he ran back towards the alpha’s house as quick as he could. “Alpha, we have to talk,” James demanded as soon as he saw Andrew. The alpha gave him a worried look.“What is it?” Tony asked, having overheard James. Before he could answer, Chris came out of the woods and walked towards them.“Alpha, we have searched everywhere the doctor told us too and still no sign of Lily or anything out of the ordinary. What do you want us to do now?” He asked, and Andrew looked at him, confused.“Why aren’t you asking, Xavier? I left him in charge,” the alpha told the younger werewolf.“I haven’t seen the doc since he
Lily attempted to move her wrists as little as possible. That way, the silver didn’t burn her nearly as badly. She licked her dry lips and kept her head down with a feeling of defeat. Several “what ifs” were running through her head, plaguing her with the ever pressing question of could she could have avoided this situation?Lily glanced at Xavier through her eyelashes and clenched her fists as her rage flared. How could he do this to the pack, his friend, and her? When the Robers adopted her at thirteen, he’d become her doctor. He saw her through a broken wrist, vaccinations, colds, and even when she needed birth control for the first time. Now he had violated her, making her something she was never meant to be, and he was just getting started.She looked up into the tops of the trees; it would probably be the last time she would see th
Xavier looked down at Lily with something that looked almost like admiration. “You are something special, you know that? Not only are you intelligent, attractive, but incredibly strong. You keep getting up no matter how many times you get knocked down. Your parents neglected you and you had to climb out your own bedroom window in the dead of night to escape some of their more unmoral guests,” he started, and she looked at him in shock.She told no one about the men that would creep into her bedroom during those parties that her biological parents had thrown, except Andrew. “Yes, the alpha told me the story. Many people become hateful, bitter creatures or timid, fearful ones with experiences like that, but not you. You fearlessly faced Kyle, even though he could have killed you more easily than you can imagine. I forced you to change into one of us and yet you have embraced what you’
James and the others closed on the brick building with caution. There was nothing stopping them from approaching the building and that made him worried. Andrew opened the plain metal door; it wasn’t locked. “Okay, this is just creepy dudes,” Chris said. Obviously, he shared James’ worry, looking around for some kind of sign of a trap or ambush. The alpha didn’t seem concerned by the lack of activity and waved them on. All four men stopped at the sight before them.Two human men lay dead on the floor. One lay in a pool of his own blood with a gaping hole where his throat used to be, while the other had died from a broken neck. “You know what? I think I forgot something back home,” Greg said, turning towards the door and James stopped him, giving him another “man up, dude” look.“Who do you think did this?” Chris asked as they stepped around the blood and entered
“Please,” Lily said, her voice coming out in pants as her eyes snapped open, looking at Andrew. James stared at her eyes; they weren’t the same color anymore. Her once brown eyes were now a golden brown and outside the iris was a thin blood red ring. What did that mean? His eyes were never like that.“Make it stop, please,” she pleaded, and Andrew gave her a helpless look. “Kill me,” she whispered and James felt those words stab him and by the look on Andrew’s face, he felt the same way. The alpha pulled her against him as she resumed screaming.“We’re too late, aren’t we?” Chris asked, his face looking pasty and pale. James nodded; his voice seemed trapped in his throat.“Yes, she is going through the change now. It’s like being injected with acid that starts eating at your insides, which are set on fire. Your skin
James Lacrosse packed up his tools, graciously turning down the offer of lunch from the scantily dressed owner of the home he’d been working on. He never understood why women thought that if they wore less clothing, a man would suddenly become more interested in them. “Didn’t stay for lunch, did ya?” The older werewolf and his boss chuckled, and James just shot him a glare in reply, which only made him hoot with laughter.“Good. Let them think you’re playing hard to get,” he went on through bales of laughers. “They pay more that way…just to see your pretty boy face, they’ll pay me double of what I usually charge,” he went on gleefully and James shook his head. He swore his boss, Freddie, sounded more like a pimp every day. Not that he could blame him for pushing an advantage. Freddie was getting up in the years and close to retirement.He wanted to pad his nest egg as much as he could, but James just wished Freddie had stopped padding his nest egg at his expense. “Maybe I should be ge
Lily’s brother had taken over being alpha for Andrew during the whole Xavier incident and it appeared that not even the power and prestige would get him to get rid of ole Ginny, his beloved jeep. She parked next to the battered jeep and slowly got out of the car. Here we go, she thought as she walked around to get A.J. out of his car seat. She held A.J. on her hip, then grabbed the duffle bag that contained her things.They walked to the front door hesitantly and slowly. It was just her family; she told herself once she noticed how difficult the simple task of knocking on the door was. The door quickly opened and Lily was swallowed in a hug. She wasn’t sure who had her trapped in a hug because all she saw was a flash of blonde hair and all the Roberts were blonde. Lily returned the hug, the scent revealing it was her adopted mother, Sandy.“We
“The queen says I won’t be in the fight this time,” Lily told them. “I should never have to do anything really but play bait and let others take down the bad guy this time.”A smile finally crossed Chris’ face. “You sit on the sidelines? Yeah, right,” he teased, and she rolled her eyes.“Yes, now I’m sideline Lily. No more rushing into the heat of things,” she told him pointedly, and his grin grew.“What about A.J.?” Jia asked and once more Lily sighed.“The queen says it’s better if I take him with me. Apparently, her visions say it’s not a good idea to leave him here,” she explained.“And what about James?” Chri
“But I can’t,” Lily demanded in response to the queen’s suggestion. There was a time where Lily would jump at the chance for a fight, but not anymore. Not after she realized what could happen and all that she could lose. “You know what happens when I get physical,” she argued.“That was then, but now you’ve been letting the wolf and the vampire out regularly and that’s beside the point because you won’t be in the fight…you’re just the bait. We’re controlling the information flow of who knows Silvano is free. You’ll go home under the pretenses that you’re visiting your family, introducing them to A.J. and all the while unawares that Silvano escaped,” the queen explained.“But the truth will be that you’ll have our best team stationed nearby waiting for an
Lily Nawassa stared into the microscope, holding her breath as she carefully placed the newly created serum into the sample. She let out the breath, waiting to see the results. “Come on,” she whispered when nothing had yet to happen. “Come on, come on, come on,” she chanted when still there wasn’t any reaction.“Sounds like you're trying to persuade it,” she heard one of her fellow lab partner laugh. “I don’t think vampiric persuasion has that much power,” he joked, and she sighed. She looked up at Bruce and gave him her best “you’re so not funny” look. One would think being a two hundred-year-old vampire, he’d know how to make an actually funny joke.“Well, I guess no reaction is better than a bad reaction,” she said with a sigh and leaned back into the chair, tryin
Lily sat in the little cafe sipping on her hot coffee, enjoying the warmth it provided her as she listened to detail what Veronica wanted to do and the offer of a job with the Aequivalere. “Honestly, ever since I heard of James Lacrosse, I’ve wanted to get my hands on a genetic sample, but he never stayed in one place too long and when he was in town, I only found out after he left. Though, I’m kind of glad if everything they said is true,” Veronica told her.Lily couldn’t resist the small smile appearing on her lips. “Well, first Veronica I’m going to check you out,” Lily started, and she nodded. “If you’re lying, I will probably kill you,” she said, intending to scare the vampire. “When I confirm that you’re with the Aequivalere, then you have yourself a little lab rat,” Lily told her, and Veronica smiled.Lily sighed, looking out the window. It looks
For the next few hours, everyone sat at the dinner table, eating one of Sandy’s gloriously delicious meals. James was there, staying in the guest bedroom until he decided what he wanted to do. Or at least, that was what Andrew told her, because James didn’t speak three words to her or look in her direction.Tony explained to her about the shift of power from Andrew to him and Lily looked over at Andrew. He was looking very proud as he listened to Tony. She smiled as she saw the powerful man she knew as father had returned. He may not be the alpha anymore, but he seemed happy and back to his old self again. Once Tony finished, he exchanged a look with Liz, who had a large ear to ear grin clearing her throat.“Tony and I wanted to let you all know that in six months we will be expecting our first,” she announced.
That night, there was a celebration for the rescue of the children. Also, even though no one dared say it out loud, they were also celebrating the doctor’s death. Wendy led Lily around the center of town, talking almost nonstop. With a smile, Lily let the teen pull her around and introduce her to all of her friends. Besides the weirdness of it all, she felt almost back to herself and that felt good. She could almost forget what had happened earlier with James. It made her feel awful things ended like that, but at least now he could think for himself.Pushing away her dark thoughts, she enjoyed herself. When she was finally free from Wendy, she looked around the crowded park where most of the celebrations were taking place. She smiled at Crocell and Karya. She bet they knew how to have a good time. “To the victory,” Karya cheered, handing her a drink as soon as Lily walked up to them.“To the victory,” Lily repeated, downing her drink, earning a look of approval from Crocell. They fill
With a wild look in her eyes, Lily continued. “I guess you want to hear how I continued to lose it to the point I enjoyed all the pain I caused Xavier much more than any good and sane person should! Or how when I was finished, and I found that Wendy was still waiting for me, I was tempted to do the same to her.” She turned away from James to throw herself into a chair. “It’s a miracle I managed to come back... but not completely,” she said, the anger suddenly gone from her face. “I’m not the good person I thought I was. I have darkness inside me,” she finished.“You’re a good person. The darkness comes from your vampire and the wildness of the beast,” James told her, wanting to comfort her, but she glared at him, her anger returning.“You don’t know anything, James Lacrosse,” she snapped, shooting up from the chair. “You want to know what that is,” she said, looking at the vial he still held. “It’s what Xavier gave to Lacy, so she wouldn’t be mated to Chris anymore,” she told him, and