I hate this.I always wanted to be a tracker—a huntress—someone who would take down the bad guys for the good of witches, humans, and other species. I thought it would be a glamorous life, like the stories I’d heard about Arthur, Liv, and other brave witches out there.No one told me I’d be slogging through the swamps of Louisiana in the dead of fucking winter for two weeks straight.After the first week, Arthur, Winnie, and I went back to prepare potions—for stealth, healing, camouflage, and defense. Then we came back to this hellacious game of hide-and-seek with the Riding Hoods.Now, after two weeks with little comfort—no hot food, no bed, no real bath—we look haggard, exhausted. And we smell even worse. I can only imagine how bad we reek to the wolves with us.So, yeah. Like I said, I hate this.The constant ambushes and near-misses with the Riding Hoods don’t help matters. Morale is low. Frustration lingers in every breath we take, a sense of hopelessness creeping into our nights.
I’m woken by a warning scream from Sev through our mindlink.Incoming!Chloe and I are instantly awake, scrambling upright as I shout, “We’re under attack!”The others react just as fast. The wolves must have gotten Bethany’s mindlink at the same time, their heads snapping up from their sleeping bags.Paul and Zola shed their clothes and shift immediately. The witches rise, hands glowing with power or clutching potions from their bags. Arthur, for the first time in days, seems completely present—his sharp gaze scanning the darkness, his body coiled with tense awareness.Jamal, Gregory, and I remain in our human forms, our gifts easier to access that way. Chloe does the same.How close? How many? I link Sev.Right behind us. Bethany triggered some kind of alert. Looks like some of them camped here, blending their scents with the humans’. At least five witches. No wolves. Sev’s voice is tight, focused.“Make ready!” I call to the group, scanning the treeline. “They’re almost here.”Thank
“You seriously thought we could be traitors? Are you fucking kidding me?” I nearly screech at Naomi. “Those withered Roman candles nearly killed Brandon! Why in the great holy fuck would we help them?”“I knew you had no motive, but with everything going on, we have to rule everyone out.” Naomi’s voice is pleading with me to understand.“Come on, Charlie. She’s right. The only people they could really rule out were those who weren’t part of the planning sessions or the actual hunt. They had to do it this way,” Brandon says, ever the voice of reason. “And we were some of the first wolves they ruled out, knowing we had no reason to help the prunes.”He’s right. I hate that he’s right, though. The lack of progress in finding the Riding Hoods, the fact that the threat is still out there—I’m spoiling for a good fight. Maybe my mates will go a couple of rounds with me on the training grounds later. Loser gets chained up tonight.On second thought, maybe the winner gets chained.“So what’s th
“Bella!” I say the second she picks up the phone.“Gregory? What’s going on? It’s four o’clock in the morning! What’s wrong?” Bella’s voice is tight with worry, rushed.“We were attacked. We’ve got a casualty and a couple wounded—two critically. We need to get medical help. Is there anyone around us that can help?” I ask as I shove mine and Jamal’s shit into our bags.“Are you and Jamal okay?” Bella demands, her voice sharp with anxiety.Even with everything going on—the fear, the violence, the urgency, the grief—despite all of it clawing at my senses, I smile. Because she cares. Because my mate, whom I’ve never even met, never laid eyes on, cares.“Yes, Bella. We’re okay.” I can’t fight the warmth in my tone, the hitch in my breath, or the way my heartbeat speeds up.“Thank Hecate!” Her relief is so palpable that she nearly sobs, but she quickly gathers herself. She speaks fast, barely breathing. “Okay, you’re in Hodges State Park. There’s a Maiden coven about five miles outside of Ho
The second Gregory called, I knew something was wrong. My heart nearly plummeted to my stomach before he told me that both he and Jamal were okay. Even then, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.I don’t know how I’ve come to care so deeply about two people—two wolves I’ve never even met in real life. I have no idea what they look like when they smile, how their love for each other shines in their eyes, or how emotions flicker across their faces. Hell, I don’t even know what they look like at all. But I do know one thing.They are mine. Destined by their Goddess. Destined by mine.And I need to get to them.Preparing for DepartureBethel’s coven willingly took in our team. Knowing our wolves and witches had been operating in the area for the past month, they had bolstered their knowledge of dark magic spells and curses, along with werewolf anatomy and healing techniques. They had prepared for this. They were the best place for our people to be.Still, that wasn’t enough. I needed to see my m
She’s fucking gorgeous.I mean, the most beautiful female I’ve ever seen in my entire life.She’s wearing a navy blue button-down with skinny jeans and ankle boots, the fabric hugging her curves and showcasing her mile-long legs. Her golden blonde hair is pulled up into a messy bun, a few loose tendrils falling around her face. But it’s her eyes—coppery brown and burning with something I can’t name—that hold me captive.She’s a fucking goddess, Gregory mindlinks, his voice thick with arousal.All I can do is nod.Because fuck—he’s right.I feel his need through our bond, as raw and overwhelming as my own.And we can smell hers.The second Bethel marks her with the protection sigil, we’re on her.That first kiss, her scent of incense and rose wrapping around me, her soft body pressed against mine, is fucking mind-blowing. Sparks explode over my skin, my wolf roaring in approval. And the way she moans when I touch her? Goddess. I’m hard enough to cut fucking glass by the time Gregory tak
Jamal settles between my legs, his tongue flicking over my clit, strumming it like a fucking guitar and he’s Dave Baksh from Sum 41. His fingers find my entrance, one pushing inside me, and I nearly scream.“Fuck! She’s so fucking tight.” Jamal’s voice is muffled against my body, but the raw hunger in it makes my hips arch up.Gregory groans against my breast, his fingers teasing up my leg, his mouth dragging a long, wet line up my throat. When he reaches my ear, his voice is deep and thick with want.“I can’t wait to have these gorgeous legs wrapped around my waist. Or my head.” His fingers pinch my nipple, twisting just enough to send a sharp spark of pleasure through me.I whimper, trying to pull him in for a kiss, but he resists. “No, baby. I want to watch Jamal make you cum. I want to hear those sweet, desperate moans. I want to watch you come undone.”The last word is punctuated with a sharp bite to my ear.My legs instinctively wrap around Jamal’s head, my fingers sinking into h
As soon as my mates orgasm above me, I carefully pull them apart, shifting Bella onto my chest as I lay back against the bed.My cock is so fucking hard it’s painful. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this desperate before. Watching Gregory and Bella together was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. There were moments when I almost came just from the sight of them, but I held back.Because I wanted this. I wanted to feel Bella’s tight pussy wrapped around me. I wanted to feel the way she squeezed Gregory’s cock. I wanted to lose myself in her—until she was the only thing I could see, smell, hear, taste.Gregory had needed to go first. She wouldn’t have been able to take me right away. He had to stretch her open, and she had taken him so fucking well. So unbelievably well.Bella is still floating in her post-orgasmic haze, her breath uneven against my chest. I wait for her to come back to me, peppering her lips with soft kisses, trailing my hands over her body. Slowly, she begins to respond,
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