Helen POVI woke up in a hammock bed, a warm breeze carrying the smell of fresh trees and warm soil brushing past me. I couldn’t help but sit up in fear, knowing that the last time I was awake, the Huntsman had just shot me with a dart.Justin waltzed over nearby, coming to the edge of a pond where I rushed over to his side, throwing us both into the shallows in terrified precaution. He coughed a breath, both of us soaking wet now, but he look at me like I was crazy.I was just trying to protect him!“Whoa, Helen, what are you doing?”I inhaled sharp, petrified. “We have to be careful, he could shoot us, Justin.”He bit his lower lip and then sat up slow, helping me do the same until we were both on our knees in this fresh, clear water that was so cold it made my shirt cling to my body and gave me the chills.“We’re not anywhere near the Huntsman, Luna.”I tried to make sense of that claim, looking around in perilous realization. We were at the mouth of a beautiful lake, on a wooded s
Helen POV“What the hell, Helen? Are you trying to drown?!”I sucked in air through the water that had leaked into my lungs and it ached so bad that I wanted to double over, but instead Justin linked is arms around my lower back and held me to his warm, bare chest. He made sure my head stayed above water while I caught my breath.“I’m—I’m sorry but—but you wouldn’t come swim out if—”He cracked a reserved smile and only shook his head, pushing my hair back as it sat tangled with sand and knotted from the soft water where we were now swimming together. I can’t help but feel a little proud of my work.“You almost drowned so I would come and swim with you, Helen?” He looked through me as I nodded sheepishly, flustered and blushing from the couching fit. “My mate is a trickster.”His lips brushed mine softly, taunting me at first, and I caught them at last, turning a once innocent moment of closeness to a hard grinding of our flushed bodies, needy and hot together in the water.“Justin,”
Helen POVI felt my head whip with the velocity of a punch right against my cheek. I screamed, blood dribbling off my lower lip and puddling on the floor where I’m forced to lay, chained to the ground.“I hate you,” I whispered, fighting to stay conscious, afraid if I passed out in this reality, I would be stuck here instead of waking up with Justin. “Just tell me, please. Why?”“Because I like hearing you scream,” he replied amusingly.“No, not that,” I barked. “You’re not the first to hurt me to get at my mate. I’m not concerned over that. I want to know why not stop there? If you wanted me dead, I would be already. But you want the whole pack dead, too. Why is that?”His laugh filled the room but still, it wasn’t normal and kind. It wasn’t even human sounding, although I still believed that’s what he was. He looks human, has emotions like humans, and lived among them according to legend.But now it’s different.Now he’s human with a special sprinkle of evil that tasted bad.Tasted
Justin’s POVShe finally fell asleep, which I thought would never happen. Her day was chaotic and long, most of it she spent waking up out of the dreary super poison that overwhelmed her system.She is peaceful in her dreams, though still whimpering and ached from her bruising. She mumbled my name once or twice before I joined her in the hammock.Holding her, I could feel her settle. She loved me, that was proof in her calming touch, but it didn’t change that weird explanation she gave me about what he told her. My father can’t be alive, that’s impossible.I heard the broadcast, the news of his death—I didn’t have to be there to see it, I saw the aftermath and his pack claimed to know it happened for sure.So why is the Huntsman trying to throw us off track now? Why is lying?“I guess my secret can’t always be kept.”I practically jumped from the hammock, throwing myself onto the sand while my Lycan bit back his fury. It wouldn’t last long, but it had better last enough for an explana
Helen POVI sat up to find Justin had left our little oasis of a camp. I looked around for him for a while but when I came up empty, I went back to restoke the fire. I tossed a few logs on the burning, golden ashes seeing the flames eventually lick up the sides of firewood.Warmth was nice but being held by my mate earlier was way better. It almost felt like he was back, like he was forgiving me and loving me again, but I knew that it wasn’t perfect. He still had to trust me, something I knew was too hard to do right now.While I curled upright in a little ball, resting my chin between my knees, I watched my mate come through the greenery that surrounded our little camp. He had his eyes down, an odd little glass bottle in his fist that I could tell didn’t just come from this nature retreat.“Hey,” I purred.He jumped at the sound of my voice, his breath catching while he slid his hand awkwardly behind his back. He scanned the space with those dark, Lycan eyes, like he was furious alre
Helen POVJustin rented a car when our time in paradise had clearly come to an end. We didn’t get to mate, we didn’t even get to talk through all of our problems. I felt stronger though, as if I had gotten a week’s worth of rest and my body and wolf were both rejuvenated.My mate appeared to be in the same condition, his eyes lit with a new fire.He sat the little vial between us, the precarious opal-like liquid swishing around as he pulled the classic car down the mortal world’s highway. I missed our pack and the trees, especially the river, but I also needed to know what happened with Ezequiel.Justin said Randy was going to take care of him but it didn’t explain anything to me.Why would he turn on us and lead the pixies to their death? He had been given leniency with his sister staying in the pack but for him to betray that trust, it just didn’t add up. I thought of him a lot on the silent, dreary trip back to the pack.My eyes flutter shut with his name still stuck on my mind.I
Helen POVMy wolf had been muted for hours and I didn’t feel any less dilapidated since we escaped to the oasis. I felt nauseous and weary, my head spinning as he opened my door and tried to help me out of the car.I sank to my knees in the dirt, the world slow moving and foggy. I spotted a little light though that looked familiar and Freya rammed right into my forehead, colliding with me at such a speed that we both flinched on impact.I caught her before she hit the ground and Justin paced away from my side so he could greet Randy and Russo in the doorway of the estate. Freya looked just as worn as I had and I felt worse for her than I did myself.I blinked slow, her eyes tracing my bruised and battered features in shame.“Are you okay?”She nodded but stayed silent with her mouth agape in sad shock. She brushed off her wings, straightened her back, and stood on my palm confidently.“Do you know what happened with Ezequiel? Was he rejected from True Mates?”Her little head cocks sid
Helen POV“Ezequiel,” I gasped, rushing into the barracks to see him laid out on the floor, his body slumped off the edge of the cot. I found the keys and hurried over to his side, only to push him over onto his back. “No! Dammit, no!”I leapt out of the cellar and hurried away, my head spinning, my hands covered in blood. I couldn’t get to the bedroom fast enough, stumbling and weeping and angry—so fucking angry.I finally had the opportunity to tell Justin that I had proof and now it was ruined. Ezequiel looked dead and it wasn’t going to solve anything anytime soon.I ran right into my mate, throwing myself into his arms as he caught me unexpectantly. He gasped, his hands pulling at my arms, stained in blood. He looked over me for some kind of sign that I was hurt but when I shook my head, my mouth still parted open in shock, he seemed to understand.He moved past me, ripped open the window and looked down toward Russo and Randy chatting on the village street.“Go to the barracks a
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