~Tia~I unwrap myself from my mom. I quietly leave her room and close the door. Not sleeping next to my mates was weird last night, but my mom needed me. I hurry to my room so I can talk to Landon about his visit with his dad. I burst into the room, but it’s empty. Their scents are in the room, so I know they were here at some point. I jump in the shower and quickly get clean. I throw on a pair of maternity jeans, a tank top, and one of Landon’s hoodies. I head out to look for my mates in their office. When I get there, the door is open, so I walk in, and they are sitting at their desks. “Good morning, mates.”Lincoln moves to me quickly and wraps me in a hug, running his nose along my neck. “I missed you, babe. I’m totally not good at sleeping alone anymore.” Lincoln kisses me a few times on the cheek. “I'm going to go get some snacks, be right back.” Lincoln lets me go and walks out of the office.I walk over to Landon and plop on his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck. Landon
~Nikki~I slept well with Tia; I was able to ignore the pain in my heart. I don't understand why I'm so sad about this. Paul finding his second chance mate is amazing, and he deserves all that happiness. I guess it just….it just feels like it's wrong, but I can't tell why.I fill my travel mug with coffee and head to the back door. I think a walk in the fresh air will do me some good. I'll stop by the clinic a bit later to do some work in my office. I'm not on the schedule for today, but I need something to distract me. "Goddess, Lynn. You are such a hot ass mess.""But I'm your mess." I open the sliding glass door and see Lynn sitting with Tia. They are laughing and hugging. I'm so grateful that Tia was able to have friends like Lynn and Mark. She never had a friendship with her sisters, and most of the pack looked at her like an outcast. I wasn't able to give her the love that she deserved all the time, and I hate myself for that. I stood up to Stuart too late and can never get that
~Stuart~Needless to say, we didn’t talk when I approached Kimberly. She basically walked away and made sure to stay away from me. It’s infuriating because we need to come to some conclusion. What’s going on right now isn’t working; hell, who even knows what’s going on?I woke up early this morning so I could catch her, making her sit and speak to me. Of course, I spent the day trying to catch her. I never thought of Kimberly as an exceptionally covert person, but she has learned the skill very well. Every time I thought I’d heard her or scented her, I would come up empty. At one point, I wondered if my wolf was going crazy. I’m sitting on the couch, trying to figure out how to catch her. I close my eyes and open my ears and nose. I will sit her down, and we will talk. We have to decide what we are and what we plan to be down the road. I can hear light footsteps, and her scent is getting closer. I made sure to keep all the lights off, and the darkness outside is helping to keep me f
~Nikki~It’s been days since I’ve seen Paul, and my heart has been hurting since. I miss him, and that sounds so crazy to me. We weren’t together; I mean, we didn’t have a relationship. We didn’t go out on dates, and we didn’t have that togetherness, but I felt we melded together in a very short time. There’s a connection with Paul that I can’t explain; it literally doesn’t make any sense. I can feel this bond with him and feel like our bond is lost. It isn’t a broken bond, but it’s definitely not on the surface like it was before. I wish I could turn back the hands of time and not indulge in a relationship with Paul at all.At the time, indulging with Paul was innocent and fun. Now, it hurts; it hurts so badly. I want him to be happy; I want him to have everything. The problem is that, somewhere down the line, I decided, subconsciously, that I wanted him to have all of that with me. I wanted to be the one to make him happy and to see him smile each day. I genuinely believe I was sta
I hadn’t had dinner in the dining room at the packhouse since before Paul came back. I just couldn’t stomach being around all the happy people. That doesn’t even factor in the possibility that Paul and his mate would decide to eat at the packhouse. I don’t think I could stomach watching them together. I keep reliving the breakfast after Paul and I returned from the Lotus Pack. The way Paul looked at me across the table set my skin aflame. I was drawn to him, wanting nothing more than to reach across the table. He pulled his lips to mine. If there hadn’t been so many eyes, there’s no telling how things would have gone down that morning.I stand in the kitchen doorway, taking deep breaths, trying to get myself ready for this meal. I don’t know exactly what I’m trying to avoid. It isn’t like people knew that Paul and I were getting close. We hadn’t had enough time to inform anyone, so embarrassment is nonexistent. I just don’t want to see him. My heart still aches for him; my skin yearn
~Imogene~How very, very interesting. I knew something was between them, but I wasn’t sure exactly what it was. First, she was waiting for him on the porch of his house, then the little scene outside the clinic. The funny thing is that I dug deep into his mind and felt he was keeping something from me. This, these memories must be what it was. My puppets performed exceptionally well. If that bitch wasn’t sure before, it should be clear now that Paul is taken. She would do best by pretending they never had anything and moving on with her life. I will help her along if I have to. I stand up quickly and move through the kitchen. I want to catch her before she gets too far. I tune out the moans and groans of my fan club. Using a spell like this is helpful to make one look good to others, but it can be so annoying. Some people get obsessed with this spell, which never looks good.I ignore them and head after her. I look up the stairs and see her back go around a corner. I follow her as s
~Nikki~*RING**RING*“Hello? Doc?”“Hi, Lynn. I missed you at dinner.”“Yeah, I heard that Paul’s mate was going to be in attendance, and I just didn’t want to deal. How was it? How’s Tia doing?”“Remind me of something.” I stretch out on the bed, staring at the ceiling. “What was the overall opinion that Tia had of Imogene?”“She felt that something was up with that chick. She has seen Paul and believes there’s something wrong with him. She doesn’t trust that woman and was hoping that the boys would see it too.”“That’s what I thought. Speaking to Tia tonight, I didn’t get that vibe at all. She was completely team Imogene tonight. She even….she even took some shots at me.”“What the fuck!” I sigh.“Language, Lynn, language.”“Sorry. It’s just….that doesn’t sound at all like Tia. She wouldn’t take any shots at you no matter what’s going on. She definitely wasn’t backing Imagine before, so I wonder what’s changed.”“It’s Imogene, and I have no idea.”“Before, I teased that she offered
~Paul~*BLINK**BLINK*FUCK! Darkness again!*BLINK**BLINK**BLINK*A bit of light starts to stream through my eyelids. I pry my eyes open further and try to move my head, but I’m locked out again. “Clearly, my spell was wearing off, but I fixed all that now. I’m not sure where you were planning to go, but I don’t have to worry about that now.” That dreadful woman comes into my view. “When I leave, you leave. When I sleep, you are unconscious. This is going to save me a lot of time having to track you down when you start to feel antsy.” FUCK!! I tried so hard to fight against whatever it was that she did to me. I tried so hard to make it out and get to Nikki. I need her to know that I’m trapped and that I care about her, and this woman is not my mate. She’s staring right into my eyes with a sick grin on her face. I wish I could slap the shit out of her, and I’m not even a man who would lay hands on a woman in a violent way. This woman makes me want to beat her ass like I would a ma