Between one breath and the next, Dev and Ari appeared in the bedroom that Selene had provided for us. We spirits didn’t need to eat or sleep, so there was no real need for a place to lay down or a house. But because Dev and Ari came to see me once a month, I had a two-room hut containing a bedroom and a bathroom. A large shower and a huge jacuzzi made up the bathroom. The bedroom was fitted with a fireplace, a California king-sized bed covered in furs, a couch, and a few large body pillows.It was the perfect place, specifically designed for our carnal nights together.Seeing Ari and Dev took my breath away. Ari looked as beautiful as ever, her hair in a naturally curly afro that framed her face. She wore a short, racerback burnt-orange dress that perfectly complemented her latte-colored skin. Her eyes immediately locked with mine, her cheeks heating, her gaze alight with happiness.Dev wore an emerald-green pullover and jeans, but his casual attire did nothing to diminish his good loo
The kiss with Xander. The feeling of sparks from both of my mates. The scent of Xander filling my nostrils. It was everything I remembered. Everything I needed.And then, the feeling of having him inside me again? Fuck, it was pure bliss.Xander was lying across Devin’s body while I rode him from above. Each time Devin pumped into Xander’s ass, it not only drove Xander deeper into me, but it also made his cock twitch inside me.Devin wrapped his arms around Xander’s chest, holding tight to our mate. I leaned back, spreading my legs, my hands firmly planted on his thighs. My chest and pussy were completely exposed to Xander, and I watched as his eyes, already dark with arousal, turned completely black with the emergence of his wolf.Devin whispered into Xander’s ear, “Look at how your cock disappears into her pussy. Fuck, I bet she’s clamping down on you just as hard as you’re clamping down on me. You hear the sounds her wet pussy is making every time you thrust inside her? Do you see h
This time, our mating is slow and tender, a stark contrast to the frenzy we had before. That had been an overwhelming need to be joined together—one that couldn’t be denied and had to be quenched as soon as possible.This is different. This is a need for connection.I move down the bed, my lips trailing over Xander’s body. I need to taste him, to memorize the ridges of his muscles, the feel of his skin beneath my mouth, the salt of his sweat on my tongue. After tonight, I won’t have this again for another month. So I take my time, savoring every inch of him.Xander moans as the sparks course through his body. I know exactly how intense they are, because they’re shooting straight from my lips down to my cock. He groans, one of his hands threading into my hair, gripping me tight.“Mmmm, Dev. That feels so good,” he moans.I hum against his skin, lost in the taste of him.Arya moves closer, capturing one of Xander’s nipples in her mouth while I kiss down one side of his V.“Yes!” Xander h
“Arya! Devin! Xander! We gave you two hours. Time to come out!” my mother calls through the door.I love my family. I love my family. I chant through the mindlink to my mates. It’s great to see them every time we come here. I love my family.I truly am grateful to the Goddess that I get to see all of my family, my entire pack, and Isaac and Lacey each time we visit Xander. But our time here is limited. Yes, time moves differently in the Goddess realm—every one hour between dusk and dawn on Earth stretches into two here. And we don’t get tired or need to eat. But even with that, our time still feels short.And this is only the second time Dev and I have come here. Everything is new, not just for us, but for the wolves we finally get to see again. Our visit puts us in high demand. My parents, the smallest children in my pack—everyone wants to talk to me. Isaac and Lacey want updates about Jakey. Brandon’s mom, Kimberly, and his sister, Candice, want to talk to Dev about Carl and Brandon.
This night with my mates was more than I could have ever imagined asking for.When I died, I woke in a completely blank space—a white void that was as empty as my heart felt at that moment. I was dead. I’d never see Arya or Devin again. My mom. My friends. All of them, gone.At least I’d managed to save Arya. And kill Mathias.Speaking of that shithead… there he was, passed out on the ground about fifty feet from me.Would I be an asshole if I went over and kicked him in the head?Nah. Didn’t think so.After kicking him in the head… and the stomach… and the kidneys… repeatedly, I sat down, breathing hard. Mathias had let out a groan right before my first kick, but I must have knocked him out with that one. Shame he didn’t feel the rest. Cathartic, though, so I couldn’t complain.“Feeling better?”I turned to see the Goddess standing behind me, a smirk on her face.“Meh.” I shrugged. Then, standing, I turned toward Mathias and landed a solid punch to his face. A satisfying crunch echoed
I wake to the feeling of sparks dancing up and down my body, concentrated mostly around my cock.I open my eyes and glance down.“Awww, fuck! Citra, baby. That feels so fucking good.”Citra’s plump, perfect lips are wrapped around the head of my cock. Her violet-blue eyes flick up to mine as she slowly lowers her mouth, her cheeks hollowing as she sucks harder.I groan, my hands sliding to the back of her head.I don’t take control yet, letting her have her fun.The peppery, tangy scent of her arousal fills my nostrils, making my wolf preen inside my head. I tighten my grip in her hair, my body humming with pleasure.Over the last few weeks of Citra’s pregnancy, she’s been insatiable—wanting sex at least three times a day.Not that I’m complaining.My wolf and I are thriving with the attention we’re getting from our mate. Especially since her preferred method of foreplay is sucking me off to completion.Again, not complaining.Citra is the best I’ve ever had—and not just because she’s
Michael’s cum is thick and salty on my tongue. I fucking love it. He tastes amazing.Even though I can’t feel the sparks from our mate bond the way Michael can, I do feel more sensitive to his touch.When I’m sad, he comforts me.When I’m angry, his touch calms me.And when I’m horny, his touch drives me insane.Within seconds, Michael pulls out of my mouth and lifts me up by my armpits.“Enough!” he growls, his voice husky. “I need to be inside you.”I smirk before laying face down on the bed, arching my ass into the air, my feet still on the floor.“What are you waiting for?” I tease.“Fuuuck!”Michael steps between my legs, rubbing his cock against my soaked, aching core.“This pussy is going to be the death of me.”“It’ll be a happy death, though,” I murmur, my words ending on a moan as he pushes inside me.“Holy shit! How are you still so tight, baby?” His voice is rough, nearly a whine at the pleasure of stretching me open.I think it’s the pregnancy, but I don’t have the breath
One Month Later…Finally, the last group of wolves has arrived in our new territory—the Meteoric Rise territory.Fuck, I hate that name.I can’t wait to change it tonight.Tonight, at Slade’s ascension ceremony, we’ll also be renaming the pack. Slade and our leadership have kept a tight lid on the new name. Our pack knows it’s changing—but they don’t know what it will be.Too many opinions. Too much debate. Ain’t nobody got time for that shit.Tonight is going to be big.I will be officially recognized as Luna, with Slade as Alpha. We’ll be inducting a new Beta, Gamma, and Delta. Michael will be instated as our Oracle.And then—the name change.The pack mark on all of us will shift—a mark created by the Goddess herself.It’s going to be a long, involved ceremony.Because of that, we’ve decided to wait before introducing Nathan as the Alpha heir. He’s only five, and since returning to our old territory, he’s had a lot to deal with.We both have.Both Nathan and I have had to step up our
The tunnels twisted and turned in an endless labyrinth beneath the Hoia Baciu Forest. The scent of damp earth mixed with the faint metallic tang of blood and decay. The flickering torchlight cast eerie shadows along the stone walls as I strode through the corridor, my Thane, Sybil, walking briskly beside me.“How is she doing?” I asked without breaking my stride.“She is much more stubborn, much more resilient than we anticipated,” Sybil admitted. “But we believe we may have turned the corner, High Priestess.”“Oh?” I arched a brow, intrigued. Morgana’s torture had been… sluggish. Less satisfying than I had hoped.Torture, after all, is not simply about the body—it is about breaking the mind. True suffering comes when a victim loses their very sense of self, when they beg for death, only to have it denied over and over. And yet, Morgana had proven difficult to crack.Nine months. Nine months of relentless torment. We had shattered her bones and healed them daily, forced her to endure t
The ride from Texas to our packhouse should normally take 21 hours, but we’ve made it a one-week trip, sending our beta, Landry, ahead of us in our plane. He will help our people move in and settle while Brandon, our parents, and all of our pups take a little side trip for some downtime.Carl, Richard, and Lauren elected to move back to Artemis lands with us. It’s where they lived, where Carl and Richard grew up, and where they raised their older children. Now that they had a new set of pups, they wanted to come back. My mom and Charlie’s parents were also moving back with us. It was their way to see their grandpups grow but also to honor the lives of my father and Charlie.Carl, Richard, and Lauren were a little upset that Dev, Arya, Jakey, and the twins were remaining in Texas and that they wouldn’t be able to see them as much, but we’ve already got a couple of trips scheduled back and forth so that all the cousins could get together and we could see our best friends.Our side trip t
The past few months have been some of the most emotionally difficult of my life. Not only am I nearing the end of my pregnancy with our little boy, but we are also leaving Texas— all of us. Except for the old Diana pack and Arya and Dev’s pack, the rest of us will be gone by tomorrow.The last three months have been consumed with finalizing pack laws, succession rules, and building the new packhouses for each territory. We've been moving everything from our old homes, figuring out pack logistics, and ensuring every wolf is accounted for. It’s been exhausting, but necessary.We also had to choose our new betas, gammas, and deltas. In a twist of fate, Donavon asked to be our beta so that Kesha could stay close to Slade and Chloe. Rin made the same request to serve under Case, Chloe, and Sev, so their families could stay together. That means Mike and Seth will also be moving up north. But the tech squad doesn’t need to be in the same room to work together, so at least that transition will
"Reports have been consistent from all of our sources. Other than one of the fae discovering what was left of Locasta’s body in the bayou, there hasn’t been a single sighting of any Riding Hoods on American soil,” Hawk says.We’re in one of our combined council meetings, with all the alphas from every pack in the U.S., as well as the heads and representatives of the Maiden, Mother, and Crone covens for Hecate. There’s also a representative from the Seelie Fairy Court and an ambassador from the Unseelie Fairy Court. The sooner we can get all of us on the same side, the better we’ll be protected from groups like the Riding Hoods. We’re hoping to expand this into a global alliance—a kind of supernatural U.N.For now, the fae are willing to let the U.S. be the test subject. Convincing the other shifter groups, however, has been difficult. Many remain elusive or outright resistant to the idea. Zak’s presence would have helped—his Goddess gifts have a way of swaying even the most stubborn mi
After the ceremony, Gregory and I help Jamal back to our cabin. Every time I see him in that damn wheelchair, I get livid all over again. Those witches. I can’t believe Locasta and Morgana got the drop on him.He freely admits he was distracted—he had taken a call from Seth and Mike about incoming witches. It turned out to be nothing, just the Crone coven sweeping through like they promised. Apparently, no one had thought to inform our tech team of that part of the plan. And no one but Jamal had their phone turned on.Morgana had woken up just before the call. While Jamal was preoccupied, she directed Locasta to retrieve a knife from her boot—silver and coated in wolfsbane. They cut themselves free, then stabbed Jamal in the back of the neck, severing part of his spinal cord. He collapsed immediately. The wolfsbane knocked him out, and the silver cauterized the damage. For a time, he couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t even breathe on his own.Arya and Dev managed to purge the wolfsb
Zak and I have been in a fog since Charlie’s death yesterday. The one and only thing that has brought us any solace is our pups. It seems like, overnight, they began looking more and more like their mother. Though both of them have always had Charlie’s gray, raincloud eyes, their faces and bodies seem to have gotten leaner, their chins more pointed, their cheeks hollowing slightly to reveal high, sculpted cheekbones. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but others in the pack have noticed it, too.Our families are around us. Friends come in and out of our cabin. All of our mothers—Lauren, Danielle, and Clara—busy themselves with the pups, cooking, keeping things moving as if that will help. The house bustles with people, but I barely register them.The only things that ground me are Zak’s hand in mine, the weight of Christy’s sloppy kisses on my cheek, the warmth of Jerry’s small body as he curls into my chest.I know I eat. I shower. I dress. I might even respond to people. But it’s all
So many emotions. Thank the Goddess on High that I’ve been training on how to empty myself of other people’s feelings. If not, I’d be drowning in them, rocking in a corner with my thumb in my mouth. Despair. Pain. Rage. Dread. Determination. They flood over me like a tidal wave, crashing against my mental defenses. But using the techniques Meredith taught me, I let them wash over me and drain away, like waves receding from the shore.I have to keep my head on straight. My job is twofold. First, I need to help my friends process their grief without letting it consume them. Zak and Brandon’s pain is like a living thing, a force that threatens to unravel everything if I don’t keep it contained. I push their suffering to the back of their minds, tempering their anger to something useful. They don’t want this—but they need it.Then there’s Dev. His grief is just as raw, just as deep, but there’s a difference. Beneath his devastation, there’s acceptance. A flicker of hope. He knows that he’l
Zak and Brandon push through the door, Brandon almost immediately shoving Zak to the floor as a ball of lightning rushes through the air toward them. It slams into the door just above their heads before Gregory vaults over them, a shield of the same crackling energy covering us as we begin to move through the doorway.Gregory’s ability to mimic Morgana’s powers surprises her, giving Jamal the time to step into the room after his mate. His power fills the space, nullifying all the goddess gifts of those within a 100-foot radius (we checked). That includes all the witches’ powers. The only ones that won’t be affected by Jamal’s power are Arya and me. Our gifts aren’t Goddess-given but Goddess-like. He can’t take away what is part of the Goddess.The look on Morgana’s face as she drops like a fucking stone is almost enough to make me smile. Her scream echoes through the stairwell, the resounding thud as she lands and the breath whooshes out of her is immensely satisfying. Unfortunately, o
I don’t know what gave me the idea of the salt trail. Honestly, I haven’t been able to think of much since I’ve been here. The thought of us being so close to freedom seems unreal. I never thought that I would escape the Riding Hoods alive. It makes the frustration that Charlie is feeling about us going around in circles barely register to me. I’m still finding it hard to believe that we’re going to get out of here.But the salt sparks a memory of my favorite childhood fairytale. My mother hated it, the way that the witch was portrayed, but I loved the thought of children being able to outsmart an adult like that. I read every version I could find and acted it out with my toys all the time. I even made Mom, Dad, and Bella call me Gretel for about a year.So, I really shouldn’t be surprised that my old favorite story came to me in a time of need. The whole scenario was made better by the fact that Charlie called me Gretel. I feel like I’m getting some of me back. Like I’m starting to wa