1 month later… Finally, the last group of wolves have arrived in our 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 will also have a ceremony to change our name. Slade and our leadership have kept a tight lid on the name change. Our pack knows that we are changing our name, but they don’t know what it will be. There are just too many opinions and, honestly, ain’t nobody got time for that shit. So, tonight a lot of shit was going to be happening at the ceremony tonight. I will be officially recognized as the luna of this pack with Slade as my alpha, as well as an entirely new beta, gamma, and delta would be inducted and Michael instated as our oracle. And a name change which will change the pack mark on all of us, a mark created by the Goddess. It’s gonna be a long and involved ceremony. Because of that, we’ve decided to wait out introducing Nathan as the Alpha heir to the pack.
I stand in a large amphitheater, surrounded by all of our friends, family, and several of the combined packs. Many of the witches, including Bella, Liv, and Marcus, are also there. We are all gathered to witness the ascension of Naomi, Slade, and their leadership. Since the mated pair have to also instate a new oracle, I will be presiding over the ceremony tonight. And it will be a long one with all of the ranks and positions that we will be inducting. Because of the length of the ceremony, Naomi and Slade elected to have a meal beforehand. And, because it is Texas, we had to have a barbecue. The omegas of Naomi’s pack out did themselves with smoked brisket and ribs, cornbread, potato salad, collard greens, and more desserts than I could sample in a week. Glad that I had to change before the ceremony into my ceremonial gowns or the smell of barbecue would have driven me back to the buffet table. As the sun is setting, I call the assembly to order. “My brethren, we have gathe
“Where are we supposed to meet them again?” Chloe asks me. My mates and I are sitting in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in some no name town in the middle of Louisiana. The car is nondescript and registered to a straw man company that Hakeem had created so that things we bought and did couldn’t be traced back to us. Apparently the trail ended in an account in the Cayman’s. We’d already eaten the potion-steeped apple from Bella before we left, rendering our DNA unusable tot he Riding Hoods’ location spells. “At that diner across the road. We’ve still got another hour before the meet time.” My voice is tense with anxiety. Today, my mates and I would be join the search for the Riding Hoods. Two days ago, the day after Naomi and Slade’s pack ascension and bonding, they had called the three of us into their office. Asking us to keep what they said quiet from everyone, including Corinda, they proceeded to tell us their theory that someone else was feeding the Riding Hoods informati
Luckily for us, the car that we’re in has seats that fold down into an empty hatchback, so we have plenty of room to maneuver. Sev and I hurriedly push the seats down, leaving a flat surface for us to play on. I hear Joe’s deep intake of breath and turn around to see Chloe toeing off her pants and panties. I chuckle at him, running my palm across the flat of her stomach and up to cup her breast. “She is pretty fucking hot, isn’t she?” “Fucking hell, yeah she is!” Joe agrees emphatically. Chloe pulls me into a kiss, Sev moving up behind her and kissing along her neck. In a sultry, breathy voice, Chloe says, “Hop into the front seat, Joe. Enjoy the show.” “Happily,” Joe replies. He seems to be a male of few words. Honestly, I’m glad. The only reason we really want him around is for the purpose of an audience, not because we want to chit chat. Sev and I quickly disrobe outside of the car before climbing into the back seat. “Fuck!” Joe’s eyes are huge as he takes in our ere
We roll up to the diner where we’re meeting Chloe, Casen, and Severn about five minutes before the meet time. I can see them through one of the windows, a waitress setting down drinks. “Thank the Goddess they’re sitting down to eat. When was the last time we had cooked food that didn’t taste like a fucking tin can?” Gregory says, relief evident in his puffing out of his breath. He quickly unbuckles his seatbelt and hops out of the car. I’d laugh at him if I didn’t feel the exact same way. Gregory and I are the two meeting up with the newly formed trio to take them back to our group of trackers. There are about 10 of us in the group. Three can go home now that these three are here. Well, after a day or two of training and debriefing. We walk into the diner, signaling to the waitress that we’re heading over to CCS’s table. I extend my hand out to the one wolf I’d actually met, Case. “Hey, guys. How was the trip?” Clasping my wrist with his hand, we greet each other in the
This morning, Chloe, Sev, and Case left to go meet up with some of the wolves to track down the Riding Hoods. All would have been good with that plan, except for two things: 1) it wasn’t their turn on the rotation to go out into the field and 2) I could tell that something was wrong. Slade and Chloe have never been able to keep anything from me. Ever. So, when they had trouble making eye contact with me and Slade started fiddling with his belt loop, I knew something was up. Unfortunately, I couldn’t mindlink them anymore, as Slade was a part of the Rising Crescent pack and I’m a part of the Mene pack after fully mating with Donavon. Chloe, Case, Sev aren’t part of a pack yet. But that, weirdly, doesn’t seem to bother anyone around here. They are their own pack and that seems to be enough for right now. After saying goodbye to my friends as they drive off towards Louisiana, I grab Slade’s arm. “We need to talk.” He looks in my eyes and I know he knows exactly what I want to
Slade and Kesha come over to the tech center that we’ve set up in a house near where we’ve set ourselves up. This way, everything is cooled and we can spread out, section the tech into different rooms, but still have a free flowing plan to collaborate and talk to each other. Works well for us. I say us, as the boys have been teaching me a lot about cyber defense. Turns out, I’m a natural. Weird, for someone who hasn’t really had access to tech for five years. Naomi and Slade are actually thinking about leaving the tech center right where the boys have set it all up. They’ve done an amazing job and have enough space to train all of the new tech recruits that have been steadily trickling in since they’ve set up shop. Some of the newer wolves even showed some gifts in the tech field. But today, training has been halted. For today, we’re looking for the orphaned pups. That’s where Kesha and Slade come in. I don’t remember everywhere we dropped the pups off. Between the three
I hate this. I know that I’ve always wanted to be a tracker. A huntress. One who would take down the bad guys for the good of witches, humans, and other species. I had thought it would be a glamorous life. Like the stories that I’d heard of Arthur and Liv, as well as other brave witches out there. No one had told me that I’d be slogging through the swamps of Louisiana in the dead of fucking winter for two fucking weeks. After the first week, Arthur, Winnie, and I had gone back to prepare potions. For stealth, healing, camouflage, and defense. Then, we’d come back on this hellacious game of hide and seek with the Riding Hoods. Now, after two weeks with little comforts, like hot food, a bed, or a bath, we looked haggard and exhausted. And we smelled even worse. I can only imagine how bad we smell to the wolves with us. So, yeah. Like I said, I hate this. The freaking ambushes and near misses with the Riding Hoods didn’t help matters either. Morale in the camp is low
6 months later…Somewhere south of the Hoia Baciu Forest, Romania “How is she doing?” I ask as I follow the tunnel through the twisting and turning passageways. “She is much more stubborn, much more resilient than we would have thought. But, we believe that we may have turned the corner, High Priestess,” my Thane, Sybil, explains. “Oh?” This is an interesting turn of events. Morgana’s torture has been so slow, so…unsatisfying. She has been so hard to break. You see, torture has very little to do with the actual physical punishment. It is about psychologically breaking your victim, making them lose their very sense of self. And then making your victim wish they were dead, pray for death, and denying it over and over. Until they no longer breathe, no longer blink, no longer eat, without your say so. But Morgana has proven very stubborn. It’s been nine months. Nine months of us breaking her body and healing her on a daily basis. Of allowing rogues to use her however they w
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 had raised their older children. Now that they had a new set of pups on their own, 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 are remaining in Texas and that they won’t be able to see them as much, but we’ve already got a couple trips scheduled back and forth so that all the cousins could get together and we could see our best friend
3 months later… This has probably been some of the most emotionally difficult months for me. Not only am I nearing the end of my pregnancy with our little male, 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 are leaving tomorrow. The past three months have been about coming to a consensus about pack laws and succession rules, building the packhouses for each of the seats, moving all the things from everyone’s old homes to wherever they are going, and figuring out who is where in terms of pack members and how we will keep track of them. We also had to figure out who would be our betas, gammas, and deltas. In a surprise twist of fate, Donavon asked if he could be our beta so that Kesha would be close to Slade and Chloe. Rin also asked to be beta for Case, Chloe and Sev, so they could all be together. This means that Mike and Seth will also be moving up north. But the cool thing about the tech squad is that they
1 month later… “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 Hood’s on American soil,” Hawk says. We’re in one of our combined council meetings, 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. We also have 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 all of those groups, like the Riding Hoods. We’re hoping that we can make it a global thing. Sort of like a U.N. of supernatural beings. Right now, we’ve got to prove to the fae that it can work. They are more than willing to make the U.S. the guinea pig for the experiment. We’re trying to get some of the other shifters to participate, but they are proving to be fair
After the ceremony, Gregory and I help Jamal back to our cabin. Every time that I see him in this fucking wheelchair, I get livid all over again. Those stupid bitches. I can’t believe that Locasta and Morgana got the drop on Jamal. He freely admits that he was distracted, having gotten a phone call from Seth and Mike about incoming witches. Turns out it was just the Crone coven sweeping up like they said they would. Apparently no one had gotten in touch with our techies about that part of the plan. Likewise, no one but Jamal had their phone turned on. Morgana had woken up shortly before Jamal had taken the call. While he was distracted, she directed Locasta to get a knife out of her boot. It was silver and coated in wolfsbane. Once they cut themselves free, they stabbed Jamal in the back of his neck, severing part of his spinal cord. He can’t walk. The wolfsbane had rendered him unconscious and the silver cauterized the two ends of his spinal column. For a while, he co
Zak and I have been in a fog since Charlie’s death yesterday. The one and only thing that has brought us any solace are 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, both of their chins coming to more of a point, their cheeks seeming to hollow some showing high sculpted cheekbones. Granted, it could have all just been wishful thinking, but many of our pack and those that saw the pups commented on it. Our families are around us and friends keep coming in and out of our cabin. All of our mothers, Lauren, Danielle, and Clara, busy themselves with the pups and cooking. People bustle around us, but I don’t really remember. The only things that really make impressions on me are Zak’s hand in mine, a sloppy kiss on the cheek from Christy, or the heat from Jerry’s body as he lays on my chest. I know I ate. I showered. I dre
So many emotions. Thank the Goddess on High that I’ve been training how to empty myself of other people’s feelings. If not, I would be drowning in these feelings and rocking in the corner with my thumb in my mouth. Despair. Pain. Rage. Dread. Determination. All of them flood over me like a tidal wave. Using the imagery that Meredith taught me, I let the feelings wash over my body and flow back out, like a wave on the beach. I have to keep my head on straight throughout all of this. I’m obviously going to need to help my friends deal with their pain at the loss of their mate, putting their pain to the back of their minds, cooling their anger to rational levels, calming their desperation so that they can focus on the task at hand. And get out of here alive and back to their pups. Right now, I know it’s not what they want, but it’s what they need. I can feel Dev’s pain, too. It’s nearly as deep as the pain that Zak and Brandon feel. Understandably so. Charlie was like a
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 surprise her, giving Jamal the time to walk into the room after his mate. His power fills the room, nullifying all the goddess gifts of those within 100 feet (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 quite satisfying. Unfortunately for
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 have read every version that I could find of the story 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