Well, that was awkward. I turn back to look at Citra. She’s sweating slightly and her heart is beating fast. It wouldn’t be evident to anyone but a werewolf, but it’s pretty obvious to any wolf in our group. I walk to Citra, pulling her aside, gesturing for Michael to stay where he is. “Talk to me. What’s going on?” “It’s nothing I can’t handle,” she says, not looking at me. “I believe that. I just want to know what we’re walking into. How we can support you.” I duck down trying to catch her eye. Citra finally looks at me, a surprised smile spreading across her face. Suddenly, she jumps into me, hugging me fiercely. I look at Michael, who has been keeping a wary eye on us. He’s not a part of my pack. This could be seen as a threat. I want to give him the chance to tell me to let her go. Michael smiles and shakes his head, as if in exasperation with his mate’s overfriendliness. He waves at me to go ahead and hug her and I gingerly wrap my arms around her slender
The next morning, I go to checkup on Brandon. Chloe is in the room, too. She had taken a paramedic and a few nursing classes before deciding to go for her dream of being a tattoo artist, so she is tending to all of Brandon’s medical needs. When I walked in the room, she was bending over and fiddling with something at the side of his bed, her tight jean-clad ass right in front of me. I couldn’t tear my eyes away. She has to have some idea of what she's doing, right? None of this is coincidence, is it? She looks at me over her shoulder before smiling and straightening. “Hey Sev. G’morning.” My mouth is dry and it takes me two swallows before I could respond. She's wearing a low cut tank top and her full breasts look mouthwatering. Snapping my eyes up to hers, I manage a smile. “Morning, Chloe. How’s the patient?” Thank the Goddess, she turns to apply some vaseline to Brandon’s lips and I can adjust my boner so it isn't front and center against my zipper. Fuck! How d
I bring Casen and Severn outside with me and we walk a ways into the woods. I don’t want anyone to be able to hear us, so I have to make sure that we get far away from the house. I’m thankful for how kind Kesha, Chloe, and Slade are. Kesha loaned me a pair of sweats, though I was wearing one of Slade’s long sleeved shirts, since I obviously didn’t have any clothes of my own. The shirt hung on me all the way down to my knees and I’d had to roll the sleeves up nearly half way to find my hands in them. Luckily, the pants were regular length instead of the petite that Kesha normally wore. I wasn’t going to be setting any fashion trends anytime soon, but beggars can’t be choosers. Quick glances back at them let me know that they’re mindlinking, along with a loud “WHAT THE FUCK!?” from Casen. At that point, he pulled Severn to him and scented his chest. I knew exactly what he was doing, but I needed them to focus on what I had to say. I feel the Goddess inhabit my body, taking t
I stare at Meredith open mouthed. She couldn’t have surprised me more if she had said that she wasn’t a werewolf, but shifted into Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Second chance mate? Are you freaking kidding me? Sev is stuttering beside me, his hand clutching mine. “What…what do…how…why?” Each time that he starts a sentence, he doesn’t seem to know how to finish and he eventually stops. Meredith gives us some time to come to grips with what she just told us. She waits until Sev stops talking before she begins again. Rubbing her eyes with her fingers and then running her hands through her hair, she sits up straight and lets out a sigh. Her hands dance in the air as she explains, almost as if she’s got to move to get her message out. “Ok, here’s how Selene explained it to me. Your bond with Rin severed long ago, soon after the Black Night Pack fucked with you guys. When she stopped feeling the bond towards you, it was as if she rejected you. You still felt the bond be
Celeste is definitely up to something. I don’t trust this bitch of a witch any further than I can throw her. I’m not sure what to do about it, though, until I get some kind of evidence. At least the wolves don’t trust her, either. They seem to like me, though I don’t know if they trust me. But you’ve gotta start somewhere. We eat in near silence, though it’s obvious that the wolves are mindlinking the whole time. “So, Citra, how are you?” Celeste asks. “Fine, High Priestess.” Citra responds in a monotone, her eyes downcast to her food. Her mate, Michael, rubs his fingers over her hand and she visibly relaxes. I see Celeste’s eyes zero in on that little touch, her face turning stonier. Her voice comes out as cold and hard as steel. “Who is this wolf and why is he touching you?” At her sister’s tone, Citra’s eyes flash, what looks like actual lightning firing through her eyes. “He is my mate. And I would suggest that you watch your tone when you speak to him!” “Mate?
We finish breakfast before a young witch comes to collect us. He asks us to follow him to the conference room to meet the High Priestess and some of her minions - I mean the other coven leaders. Be nice, Charlie. Zak links me. Why? This bitch not only insulted us as werewolves, but she also insulted one of our friends. That and I just don’t like her. I link back. Not the biggest fan of her either, but we’ve gotta make nice for now. We’ve gotta get help about this Riding Hood situation. Fine. But she better keep her tongue civil. Karamea and Sandra have already come up with five different ways to shove her broomstick in a variety of orifices. Preferably with the broomstick on fire. Zak laughs aloud, breaking the silence as we follow the witch to the conference room and garnering several confused looks. As we walk up to the door, it opens without anyone touching it. Fairly impressive from our standpoint, but Bella looks almost bored. “Parlor tricks,” she whispers to
Oh, shit! Oh, fuck! What the hell did I just do? No! No, no, no, no, no, no. I DID NOT just throw myself at a mated wolf. I couldn’t have done that, right? And there’s no way that he was as turned on as I was, right? RIGHT!?!?! As soon as Sev and Meredith leave, I hurry to open the window and air out the room. Fanning the scent out, I hurriedly spray Lysol as well. I won’t be able to get rid of my arousal scent completely until I shower and change clothes, but this will cover it up enough until I can go sort myself out. Fucking hell! I can’t believe that I just did that. Did I really just get turned on by just Sev’s touch on my back? Of course I did. I’ve been in love with him and Case since we all escaped Black Night. Seeing them outside the other day just added fire to the lust I’ve been feeling for years. Shit! I quickly check to make sure that Brandon is ok, shut the window, and run to my room. Closing and locking the door, I nearly collapse against the do
Case asks me to meet Meredith out in the woods. He says that he and Sev will meet me at the edge of the property to show me where to go. Bring coffee. And a shovel? Is this the part where she gets rid of me? I ask through the link, only half joking. This sounds like the preamble to an ax murder scene. The Goddess has a message for us. She already talked with Sev and me. She’s gonna talk to you now. Then, we need to talk. Sev links. That sounds kinda heavy. I link back, grabbing two paper to=go containers and filling them with coffee. Not gonna lie, Fireball, it is. Case is trying to soften the blow with my Dad’s old nickname for me. Well, shit. This is gonna be bad. Ooookay. I’m walking out. See you guys in a minute? I grab a light jacket, stuffing my pockets with little creamers and sugar packets. Slade, Kesha, and Chloe drink a ton of coffee on the go it seems. Yeah. Sev’s voice is sad, nearly despondent. They both cut out the link after that. None of
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