Justin’s POV“I never wanted my lycan to have control,” I snarled.My lycan’s claws came back out. I tucked them under my armpits. I didn’t want Russo to be wrong. I wanted to be able to control my beast. So I wasn’t going to let him see that I was starting to get out of control.“See,” he said, pointing to my hidden claws. “Like right now. You’re irritated with me, and he’s angry because he doesn’t take perceived insults well. That agreement between the two of you allows him to get the upper hand. I think, at least in some small measure, those times when he ran completely out of control, both of you were feeling at least somewhat the same.”“Interesting.” My claws pulled back in, and I ran my hand through my hair. “So you think that if I’m angry and he is angry, it gives him an open door to do whatever he wants and run away with me?”“Yes,” Russo said. “So you have to find a way to be calm even when your lycan is all worked up. That way, you can keep him from running amok while you h
Justin’s POVRusso stared patiently at me. “You can fix things between you and Helen just like repairing the damage she did to you, not the physical but the emotional. By stabbing you in the back, whether it was her fault or not, the damage was done. So just like this, the damage is done whether you meant to or not. And it’s going to be slow fixing it. You are going to have to gain her trust.”I snorted. “Well, that’s ironic.”He chuckled. “Yeah, it is kind of. But you’re going to have to regain Helen’s trust and show her that you will treat her the way a luna ought to be treated. You will have to show her that you’re willing to let her be an active part of her life, your life together, and the life of the pack. Just like she’s going to have to continue to prove to you that she’s not going to hurt you. You’re going to shy away from her. She’s going to shy away from you, and it will be a hot mess for a while. But in the end, if you guys both put in the work, I think you can fix what’s
Helen’s POVRandy looked so frustrated and helpless that it made me uncomfortable. “I know you can’t override the alpha,” I soothed. “I'm not blaming you.”He looked at me sadly. “I know you're not, but from the time that you came back from captivity with your parents and his father, I've wanted to do more. I've tried the skirt around Justin's orders at every turn, but I still feel horribly guilty like I let you down.”Randy waved his hand, indicating the house. “This house . . . this is how I make it up to you. This is how I do my best to help you when I should have helped you before. I shouldn't have allowed Justin to chain you up like that. At the very least, I should have argued for confining you to the bedroom upstairs. There was no reason for you to be in chains in the dungeon like some sort of criminal.”“But you're always saying that I stabbed him,” I pointed out. “It se
Justin’s POVSomething about just having a plan to reconcile with my mate had settled both me and my lycan considerably. He was curled inside me, sulking a little bit for not having gotten a chance to take his temper out. And every so often, he would shoot off snide comments about Helen at me, focused entirely on her betrayal.But Russo seemed to have a point. When I fully disagreed with my lycan and refused to give any ground, he seemed to settle down and make do with just letting horrible thoughts rip through my head from time to time. But I can handle those.I walked in companionable silence with Russo, and the sudden feeling that I should do something for him for all his help washed over me. I turned to look at him.“Russo?” I asked. “Why exactly did you decide to stay with our pack? I mean, after you stabbed us in the back, and it bit you in the butt. Of all of the packs on the continent, why pick ours?”“Ho
Justin’s POVI was going to find Russo, a mate who would allow him to continue his species as well. It didn't seem fair as the last lycan should have the opportunity to give my wife lycan pups and continue our legacy as a species, and this poor man was doomed to watch his species die out when he went. He was young, my age. He had plenty of time. All we had to do was find him someone who was compatible, who could bear fae children for him. In fact . . .“What?” Russo asked, staring at my face.He could see that I had an idea.“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “I just figured out what Helen's next project is going to be. I know what I can put her to work on that will be helpful. It will make the lives of people that we care about better, and it will definitely keep her out of harm's way.”He gave me a light pat on the shoulder. “There, see, things are already looking better. Now, if you keep on this p
Justin’s POVI was going to find Russo, a mate who would allow him to continue his species as well. It didn't seem fair as the last lycan should have the opportunity to give my wife lycan pups and continue our legacy as a species, and this poor man was doomed to watch his species die out when he went. He was young, my age. He had plenty of time. All we had to do was find him someone who was compatible, who could bear fae children for him. In fact . . .“What?” Russo asked, staring at my face.He could see that I had an idea.“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “I just figured out what Helen's next project is going to be. I know what I can put her to work on that will be helpful. It will make the lives of people that we care about better, and it will definitely keep her out of harm's way.”He gave me a light pat on the shoulder. “There, see, things are already looking better. Now, if you keep on this p
Helen POVMy nerves were on fire, and anxiety had lodged itself in my throat. Justin was coming for a visit.Randy was sitting calmly in the living room, waiting. But I found myself pacing all over the main level, looking out the windows, trying to get a view from the windows so that I could see which direction he might be coming from and when he might arrive. I knew it wouldn’t take long. The town wasn’t all that big, and his stride was so long, being a lycan and all.“Relax, Helen,” Randy called from the other room. “Worrying about what’s going to happen when he gets here isn’t going to help anything. Right now, the best course of action is for you to just take a deep breath and relax.”“What if he’s furious,” I groaned, wringing my hands. “Just a few hours ago, I felt so empowered, and now I felt so unsure of myself. Maybe I should have waited patiently for longer. He’s just
Helen’s POVI stayed frozen but hopeful. I hadn’t been ordered back to our other house, and Justin hadn’t yelled at me for my outburst in public. After a moment, he turned around and rubbed both hands across his face, his head hanging. When he turned back, he stared straight at me and said, “I have a job for you, I guess.”“You what?” I asked.“I have a job for you,” he said more confidently.All of a sudden, fear clawed its way into my throat. By job, did he mean that I was going to be banished back to a cell with the job of staying obedient? Was I going to be chained up again?I ducked my head submissively. “Whatever you wish, Alpha,” I murmured through numb lips, trying to hold back whimpers at the idea of yet more punishment coming my way.Justin growled, and tears filled my eyes. What about this response was wrong? What was I doing to upset him? I was trying to be as obed
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