I hope you are enjoying the story so far and getting to know Lottie a bit better. I would love to hear who your favourite character is and why. As always, thank you all for reading and all of your support, comments and encouragement. VB xx
Christian’s POVArly is a monster.A happy, chubby, energized little terror of the highest order.I knew kids were a handful, but she has the energy of at least three pups. If I were a suspicious man, I would think my brother had been spoon feeding her pure sugar before he handed her over. Wherever she gets all this energy from, I am in desperate need of some just to keep up.It took all of about half an hour of her tearing around the pack house before I had an epiphany and brought her out to the training field. Nobody is using it at the moment so she can run around until she burns herself, although it’s looking like that won’t be any time soon.Some of the older kids noticed us out here and came to see what was going on. I think it might be the first time she has actually been outside since we brought her home. The pack knows about her and how she came to be here, most of them have either met or seen her, but the kids are rarely in the parts of the house where Arly has been, so she i
Imelda’s POVMy gifts are unique, even among my kind. We have folktales and oral lore, which speak of only a single deathless witch ever existing at any one time in history. When I first learned what I could do, I was young and without guidance. My mother had just passed away and I was too overcome with grief and anger to listen to what I was being told.I’m ashamed to admit I tried to end my time here, all I wanted was to see her again. I needed to know why. She wouldn’t come to me in any from. I tried calling for her, I scried, spent weeks in the astral planes searching, hoping she would come to me, but nothing.After drinking the Nerium tea, I had a momentary lapse of conviction. When I woke in the stone circle my sister witches had laid me in for protection, I was relieved to have somehow survived. I knew what my mother was, that is why I felt so betrayed. A deathless witch has to choose to die. She chose to leave me. I can’t accept that she acted without reason, so I learned to l
Hunter’s POVI promised Liberty I would think about my future.I honestly don’t know where to even start.Esme.Everything makes more sense when I’m with Esme. I was going to go to her for advice before, but knowing she has a history and friendship with Imelda, put me off. Not knowing exactly what is on the line is only making it harder. I should ask Imelda directly, but I’m not ready for that. I won’t go into a volatile situation unprepared. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail. That is the one of the first things Thoran taught me when he began training me to join the Old Guard.I thought it was strange that he didn’t put me with the Elite Warriors, but he said I have a raw , untapped energy that is better matched to the old guys. I see now that it was meant as a compliment, but it didn’t feel like it at the time. Frankly I wouldn’t fit in anywhere, so it didn’t really matter who he grouped me with.I lucked out with Gerald. He never pushed or questioned. He accepted me for what I
Lottie’s POV Gabe’s arms cage me, one thick, veined bicep bulges either side of my head. His forearms depress the plump feather pillow as he holds my head in his hands, and his eyes stare into mine with a longing I feel in my heart. I have heard stories about sealing the bond, how mates mark each other, it’s all any of my friends talked about last year, in the lead up to our sacred days. They shared tales they had heard from older siblings or the she-wolves in the pack with lose morals or unsheltered history. There are only a few girls born into the pack in each generation, so naturally we are all quite close, and every one of us had hope that we would find our fated mates. We knew chances were slim. The pack protects us girls more fiercely than anything, especially after girls from packs close to Pine Lake started going missing. Gabe is sweet and tender and takes his time. I know about him too, and what the men get up to when they are off pack land. I’m not as blind to everything t
Liberty’s POVMy legs are numb. Not from my injury, which is already mostly healed, but from being stuck in this bed. Marcel and Doc Wood both expected my recovery to take longer and Christian and Zander both insist that I rest so I don’t set myself back, it’s lovely that they care and want to look after me, but I think I might go crazy if I’m stuck in here much longer.Doc Wood has been in and out taking blood samples. I hope he can isolate and synthesise whatever it is that has allowed me to heal so quickly but he can take blood from me in my office just as well as here in this bed. Obviously, it’s something to do with the blood Marcel gave me, but knowing why and how it works could save so many people of all races, if anything good comes of all this, I hope that is it.I had been getting bored. I’ve had visitors and Arly has been keeping my mind off of everything, but I want to be in my office, working, putting everything in motion for Lottie’s plan. My mates are not going to like
Lottie’s POVI don’t mind being in a cave with no idea how I got here. I don’t even care that the floor is littered with bones and animal horns. The thing that bothers me most right now, is that I am one hundred percent butt naked.The only way this could have happened, that I know of, is if I misted. But that can’t be the case, my dragon is bound, and I’m not strong enough to use my magic to mist. Fire is easy because my mother was a Pyro. Controlling fire is in my magical genes, and that gave me a massive advantage when it came to learning how to summon Fire.‘I was bound, but no longer am.’ A feminine voice speaks.“Who’s there?” I spin on the spot, my eyes searching every crevice of the dark, rocky dome. The ceiling must be at least fifty feet high and it sends my voice bouncing back to me.‘I’m in here, not out there.’ The woman sounds amused but possibly a little crazy. I’m looking in here, and I see no one.‘Not the room Lottie. You. I’m inside you. My name is Naivleen, I have
Hunter’s POVIt has become normal around here, for everything to go to shit at the drop of the hat. Tonight is no exception, only now I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.When Liberty showed me her visions, it was the most surreal experience. Like dreaming but not. I can’t explain it, I don’t have the words to do it justice. It was exactly what I needed though. I have been on the fence about my future, my magic, my Alpha gift, but seeing what I did has pushed me firmly to the side in favour of being unbound.If my destiny is to lead Shadow Ridge out of the darkness and into the light, who am I to decide otherwise? I know Liberty said there were many futures, and that it is not my burden to carry if I don’t want it, but if I don’t do this, I feel like I would be no better than the very person we are trying to stop. I don’t want to wake up every day for the rest of my life with regrets.I’m scared. I’m not afraid to admit it. Taking on Shadow Ridge is going to be a fight, one tha
Liberty’s POV ‘Trust your gut Liberty.’ Justice repeats the same words she always tells me when I start to doubt myself. I was hoping she would tell me it’s all in my imagination, or have an example of why my theory is way off base.“I’m trying, but if I’m right… the danger to the pack doesn’t bear thinking about.” My body quivers at the thought. The rebellion would foam at the mouth if they knew about Lottie and Arly, and if I’m right about this, the target over Pine Lake will only grow.‘She has been here for years, undetected and unharmed, there is no reason that would change just because you know.’ Justice, ever the voice of reason, tries to put my mind at rest. I have had my suspicions about the pack as whole, ever since we met Marcel. When the Old guard and Elite warriors shifted to follow me into the woods, there was something about them, their wolves had auras that were similar but different. I know, it doesn’t make any sense, I couldn’t wrap my head around it at first. Hones