Helen POVAfter what felt like forever -but was only a few minutes in reality-, Justin and I were cleaned, dressed, and downstairs with my family around the dining room table once more."Both your daughters will compete in the Games?" Justin asked, curiously cocking his head to the side as he narrowed his eyes on my father.I understood why he was hesitant to accept the decision to send both Diana and me to the Wolfen Games. Daughters were as welcome to compete as sons, but there was risk involved in the competition. Wolves had died competing before. If a family entered all their children in the Games, they ran the risk of losing all their heirs.My status as a tricolor Tiger Lily meant I had never even been considered for entrance to the Wolfen Games before. My sister, Diana, had competed and done well to represent our family while I had not been allowed to so much as observe the events.Why did Father want to take me to compete now? Did he know he would be exposing my identity to Al
Helen POVA complicated silence fell as the gate guards recognized Justin. I could tell they knew who he was within moments and then I shivered hard from the fear they would take him away to be chained up again.Whispers came from all around as people recognized the last Lycan had returned to Lone Wolf Estate."The last Lycan!" said several voices at once.An older she-wolf said, "He's crazy isn't he? Why isn't he in chains?"I could practically feel her fear and, from the way the crowd kept backing away, bunching together as if readying themselves for an attack, it seemed other wolves were picking up her fear as well."How did he get loose?" asked an older Alpha. I thought he sounded personally affronted. Did he think the Alpha King had released Justin without making sure he was safe to go among others? He surely didn't think Justin's chains were possible to break."Aren't the guards going to do something?" came from a powerful she-wolf from my own pack and I glared at her.I realize
Helen POVDay of the Wolfen GamesJustin never answered his father's question about whether or not he would win the Wolfen Games for Lone Wolf Pack, but the whispers among the contestants made it clear they thought the last Lycan would win.I didn't know whether to be proud everyone was giving my mate a wide berth or worried because they were avoiding him out of fear."You could try to stop glaring at people," I said quietly, trying to keep my voice low enough for only Justin to hear me.Justin raised a brow at me, looking down into my eyes without saying anything in response; I realized he didn't know he was glaring. His expression became closed off. I worried I had upset him even more when all I was trying to do was make things easier for us both.Leaning over, I tugged on his arm so he would stoop enough to press my lips to his ear, "People are afraid of you. They don't know if you're dangerous and they're worried how you'll compete."Justin studied my face silently. I blushed unde
Helen POVPeople say their life flashes before their eyes right before they die.As the wolves raced towards me, I didn't see my life as I'd lived it. I saw all the things I'd never gotten to do instead."Justin!" I yelled again as I saw him racing along the edges of the clearing.Justin was staying inside the treeline. I couldn't figure out why he wasn't rushing to my aid until I noticed his silhouette changed. He was suddenly taller.A lot taller.When Justin raced out of the forest, he was a fully grown Lycan and he towered over everyone and everything in the clearing. He grabbed one of the nearest wolves by the scruff of his neck and hurled him away; I screamed when the wolf hit a tree trunk with a yelp before going silent and still."Justin!" I cried.Two of my attackers turned to go after Justin only for him to swipe them both with his claws.Blood sprayed across my face, hot and sticky. The copper scent overwhelmed me so much I couldn't even scream again. All I could think to d
Helen POVDesire spread through my body with the force of wildfire, setting my nerve endings on fire until every inch of me was sensitive to every inch of Justin. I gave in to his kissing immediately; I would have been embarrassed about my lack of control except I could tell from the scent of the crowd watching us they weren't disapproving.Most of them were either envious or aroused themselves.Justin broke the kiss off first."Do you need me to guide you to the bodies?" Justin asked, his voice calm and deep as the ocean on a summer afternoon.He might as well have been asking if our watchers wanted a snack to go with their entertainment while I was one step away from humiliated at my own lack of self-control. What if I'd gone into heat again? Didn't he know grabbing me up to kiss me wasn't acceptable in public?A part of me hated how I had liked it, too. All the attention on me for a change? People feeling envious of me? I'd dreamed many dreams about making the pack regret treating
Helen POV"Justin!" I cried out, but my mate was already running away on swift Lycan feet.The full moon was necessary for the second portion of the Wolfen Games. I had taken for granted we would be outside for the start of the cycle while Justin was not yet used to being free during the moon's strongest time.Alpha King Juden pointed to the sight of the Lycan racing away from his estate toward the nearby town, yelling, "See! He's a wild beast! Completely untamed! This is why I've had to keep him locked up. For his own safety. For the safety of all of my people."Murmurs spread through the wolfen crowd as they all seemed to accept their king's explanation. I saw several older wolves nodding as if there had been no surprise to them the Lycan was loose.How dare they assume Justin was a monster? Why? Just because the Alpha King said he was?"I've been alone with him several times without him losing control. He's just not used to being outside during the full moon. He was kept in chains!
Helen POVJustin kissed me until my body felt as if it was made of pure fire. Every inch of my skin was blazing hot; I no longer cared who was watching us as long as Justin kept kissing me, touching me, holding me.Joy howled in my mind, [Yes! Our mate! Be with our mate!]I heard no response from the beast inside Justin, but he must have heard Joy on some deep, animal level himself. He stopped kissing me, controlling my head by tilting my face back so our eyes met.Whispering, Justin repeated, "Mate."Howls and laughter interrupted my enjoyment of the moment, bringing me back to my senses as I realized I was getting entirely too involved in kissing my mate before the entirety of wolfen society including the Alpha King. Justin tried to kiss me again only I held a hand up to stop him."We're not alone," I pointed out, "We should be alone, shouldn't we?"The Alpha King had a brow raised in reaction, but he didn't say anything. His Beta -who really did look so much like an older version o
Helen POV[I feel stronger], Joy told me as I transformed back into my human body.I studied my reflection as I replied to her, [We are stronger. I don't know how or why, but we are stronger.]"Are you looking for something? Did I hurt you?" Justin asked from behind me.Turning to look at him in surprise, I said, "No! I just thought I looked---different."I felt stupid saying it out loud. My face flushed as embarrassment overtook my wonder; Joy went quiet the way she seemed to always do when Justin was speaking. My wolf was already more in love with my mate than with me.Joy would have taken my side in every argument before I met Justin. The Lycan held a sway over her I could only blame on the matebond which was ridiculous since we weren't mated yet as we hadn't exchanged mate marks.How could sex sway a wolf the way mine had been swayed? I'd never heard of it, but I didn't have anyone to ask either. My parents wanted nothing to do with me as I was such a failure in their eyes.Would
Luke’s POV I knew my sister had run off to hide again after I heard her arguing with Dad. I wanted to find her and make sure she wasn’t sulking. Aurora liked to do that when things didn’t go exactly her way.But it seemed I wasn’t the only one who had that idea because halfway to her so-called “secret” place in the garden, I caught sight of her current boyfriend, Jay, sneaking out there, too. Jealousy prickled at my stomach.Aurora was my twin. I was the closest one to her. If she needed cheering up, it should be me doing it, not some random guy. What could he ever offer her that her twin couldn’t?Besides, Jay wasn’t worthy of her. He was a single-color coated wolf, the son of some gamma in my father’s ranks. If she was going to date and seriously consider finding a mate, I didn’t think Jay was anywhere near worthy of her.Jay was a consolation prize, at best. Some poor lady wolf could end up with him, but not my sister. Still, if she was just killing time by fooling around with him
Aurora’s POVAs the oldest of my mother’s twelve children, everyone expects me to be responsible. And as the first lycan born to my father, everyone looks to me to continue the lycan race.That’s a lot of pressure to put on an eighteen-year-old. Don’t get me wrong, as the future luna and heir to my father’s throne. I get where the pressure is coming from. Not that I particularly enjoy it.At the moment, I was hiding in the garden. I had many happy memories of this space, and on many days when I needed to think for myself or to get away from my many siblings, particularly my twin brother, I snuck out here and hid. Luke was way too over-protective of me, and it got annoying.When I was small, I used to make forts in the hedges surrounding the rose garden. I’d carved my hiding spot out into a hidden alcove that nestled inside the hedge behind a veil of ivy. Sunlight could dapple through the vines and illuminate the inside.And as long as I kept it free of cobwebs, it was a nice space to
Helen’s POVEach of the twins had gotten to choose party clothes for the event, and they were quite excited about it, probably because I let Luke have a tie that had a dinosaur print all over it. And because his little suit wasn’t anywhere near as fancy as Aurora’s poofy dress, or I guess it was just as fancy but less to his taste, I let him pick out a little undershirt and underwear with dinosaurs on them, too. That way, he felt he had a satisfactory number of dino garments on and was much easier to coax into his little gray suit.Aurora had chosen a dress perfect for a budding princess, all tulle and lace and sparkles in a vivid teal that complimented her dark hair, each accentuating the color of the other. I had just finished pulling on her tights and buckling her sparkly little shoes when Celine joined us.“Why don’t you come and help me greet the guests, Luke?” she suggested. “While your Mama finishes doing Aurora ‘s hair.”“Okay.”He took his nanny’s hand and left, and I fussed
Helen’s POVI bustled around the kitchen with our nanny Celine helping me. On her back, my two-year-old son, Wilson, kicked his legs happily, asking nonsense questions about what we were doing.Inside me, our new baby, another daughter, kicked and squirmed, looking for more room inside my womb. Celine and I were busy frosting cupcakes for the twins’ birthday. They were turning five today, and it was a big birthday party because we were doing their official reveal.Today, they would reveal their wolves and begin to learn about them and grow together. Justin and I had spent the last five years working furiously to repair all of the damage his family had done to the reputation of the multi-colored coated werewolves in anticipation of this very day.The last thing I wanted to do was have my children reveal the color of their wolves only to find out that they were multi-colored, or at least that’s the way it would have been if we hadn’t put in the effort. By now, everyone in the True Mates
Justin’s POVIf anyone said “honeymoon” to me, I would assume plenty of sex on the first night. But that was not at all what our first night in Tahiti was like.We arrived at the airport late and got shuttled straight to a hotel. We were exhausted and then had to get up early again to catch our inter-island flight to Bora Bora.Neither one of us was in the mood to do anything that night. So, thank goodness we had gotten a chance to fool around on the airplane. And I have to admit, fooling around on the airplane was so fucking hot.Ever since I found out that she was carrying one of the Huntsman’s twins, well, actually, that’s a lie. Ever since I found out that she was the Huntsman sex slave, and then when I found out that she was carrying his child, my feelings of desire for Helen wavered up and down.Sometimes I felt like everything was normal between the two of us, and I wanted her just the same as I always had, or at least the same as I had since I’d gotten my lycan and she’d gotte
Helen’s POVMy stomach buzzed in anticipation. Even the rumbling of the jet engines through the seat in my rear end didn’t dispel the feeling. Next to me, Justin adjusted his seat belt, putting his books and such within arms reach for the flight to Bora Bora.I’d finally gone with that as the location for our honeymoon. The twins were safe with Randy and Emily, and our nanny. Outside, snow swirled around the plane, but in about fifteen hours, we would be out in warm sunlight. Well, we were arriving at night, but we’d be out in warm weather anyway in Tahiti. And from there, first thing the next morning, we were catching a small flight over to Bora BoBora.“Are you excited?” I asked, poking Justin in the shoulder.“For the hundredth time, I am. And I can tell you are, too, annoyingly excited. You’re going to drive me crazy.”I poked at him again. “I don’t wanna drive you crazy, but I have an idea.”“What?”I tugged on his shirt, so he had to lean close so I could whisper in his ear. “I
Russo’s POVWhen we arrived at the hospital, the nurses thought it would be amusing to put us in the exact same room that Helen had been in while she was waiting for her C-section. Being a witch, Lisa shooed the nurses away as much as she could because she brought her own herbs to help with the delivery.In fact, after she’d taken some at the start of the contractions, she didn’t seem to be in much pain at all. Her body was going about its business without really disrupting her. It confirmed my suspicion when one of the nurses walked out, grumbling about how it must be nice to be a witch.“How come you didn’t offer the same herbs to Helen?” I asked, sitting at the bedside by Lisa’s head.She glanced over at me. “Because the mixture that I took includes wolfsbane, which is hard enough on adult werewolves, poisonous in large portions, and deadly to a newborn or an almost newborn. I would have essentially poisoned her and the baby.”“Not babies?”She shrugged. “I don’t know what would h
Helen’s POVWhen I got to the door, sure enough, Randy stood outside. I opened the door, and I held her finger to my lips.“The babies are napping?” he whispered.I nodded. “Like angels.”“Sweet,” he said, stepping inside. “Now, what did you need to see me for that was so urgent?”“I need your help with something,” I explained. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Justin hasn’t been as affectionate with me as he was before all of this went down. He’s done a pretty good job of coping with the fact that one of the twins isn’t his, worse, that he’s a part demon. But it’s kind of left a quiet wedge between us, and I wanna get over that.”Randy nodded. “I did notice. He hasn’t said anything to me. Though, I know he’s trying.”“I realize he’s trying,” I agreed, “but that doesn’t mean that he needs to try all on his own. So . . . I have an idea.”A wide grin spread across my face just thinking about it. “Before we found out that one of the twins belonged to the Huntsman, Justin was planning
Helens POVI thought, when I fell in love with Justin, that I knew what true love really felt like. That was until I met my babies. The love in my heart for my twins surpassed anything I’d ever felt before.I wanted to protect them, and at the same time, I wanted to take them out and show them to everyone I met. I wanted to have them seen, for the world to know that I had created perfection.And they were perfect. From their tiny little lips to their little button noses, they were utterly adorable. They each had ten teeny fingers and ten petite toes. Their downy heads of hair were so soft that I could help but smooth my hands across them, reassuring them that their mother loved them.Everything about them was indescribably perfect.We knew from the moment that they were born that my daughter was the lycan and my son was the child of the Huntsman. If Justin was disappointed in not having a son of his own, he didn’t say anything. And I wasn’t worried about having a male lycan pup just y