Helen’s POV
When I opened my eyes next, sunlight filtered in through the living room windows. I was still lying on Justin. Though now I’d slid down, so I lay sideways across his lap. Looking up, I saw him looking down at me.
He smiled. “You look pretty when you sleep,” he said.
I blushed. It was such an innocent compliment and so unlike our usual interactions. He got the faintest hint of a blush on his cheeks, too.
“You’re even prettier when you blush,” he said.
Something hard throbbed against my cheek, and I hurried off his lap. I wasn’t ready to do that—yet.
Justin flushed even deeper and looked away from me, rubbing the back of his head. “Sorry about that. It’s just—”
“It’s okay. I get it,” I said. “That was kind of the expectation for our bodies in the past. So, naturally, it’s in your nature to be ready should the moment ar
Justin’s POVRandy sat at the table opposite me, going over reports of available warriors and supplies. While we weren’t openly fighting anyone at the moment, we still had dangerous adversaries lurking just out of sight. No one thought the Huntsman had given up.I cleared my throat. “Randy? Can I ask you a question?”“Mmm,” he muttered, not looking up.“Did I abuse Helen?”His gaze jerked up to me so fast that I was surprised he didn’t hurt his neck. “What?”I squirmed uncomfortably in my chair. I’d given this a lot of thought over the six weeks since Helen started living on her own. And my mind kept coming back to the frightening thought that maybe I’d actually gone so far as to abuse my own mate. Every time I thought that a sick feeling settled in my stomach. I’d finally come to the conclusion that I needed to ask Randy if I had.If Randy confirmed m
Justin’s POVI whispered the words, “He wants you back,” into my mate’s ear. My breath carried sincerity and desperation. Beowulf wasn’t the only one who wanted Helen.I held her in my arms, my apology still hanging in the air around us. I didn’t expect her to say she forgave me or that it was all in the past. I also hadn’t expected tears.Helen clutched at my shirt, chest jerking against mine.“I didn’t mean to make you cry,” I said, unsure of what to do next.“No one I’ve wanted to love has ever apologized to me before,” she sniffled out. “Somehow, they mean even more than ‘I love you’ does. Do you really mean it?” She pulled back, looking at me through her tears. “Because if I thought you were just saying this to get me back or for any insincere reason, I’m not sure I could live with that disappointment.”I shook my head
Justin’s POVHelen scurried away from me, tidying her skirt and pasting an innocent look on her face. I yanked the front of my shirt down to cover my exposed erection, holding one hand across the other in front of any indiscrete lumps.It wasn’t enough. At least not for me to remain uncaught. The warrior took one look at me and blushed crimson.“Alpha King, I-I’m so sorry,” he stammered. “I thought it was important. I didn’t realize . . .” His voice faded out, and he turned away, facing the door.“It is important,” Helen said, stepping in front of me.I used the moment and her cover to tuck myself back into my pants. If anyone had ever said I’d stop that close to orgasm, I’d have laughed at them. But I guess there are at least a few things that can interrupt, even at near climax.“She’s right,” I added. “Finish delivering your message.”
Justin’s POVI burst out laughing. “You three play one hell of a prank. A demon? Yeah, right.”“I wish we were joking,” Randy said. “Selina Crow left us the information and fled. She’s one of a handful of witches and wizards left, and they’re only alive because they hid from the Huntsman. But we looked up the Huntsman’s middle name and found Orias on the list of Solomon’s demons. Orias is thousands of years old. And like most demons, he has a gift of making trouble when he visits Earth.”“This article is one Selina Crow did,” Randy explained, “outlining all of the demons Solomon summoned thousands of years ago, what they’re capable of, and where they might be now. It seems Orias was on Earth making trouble one hundred and thirty years ago when Jacob Cypress’s mother caught his eye.”“Whether he took some human form and created a fictional relationsh
Justin’s POVSweet relief washed through me when Helen said she hadn’t slept with anyone else. Beowulf growled out that he didn’t believe her, but I ignored him the way he’d ignored me earlier.“Then are you suffering?” I asked Helen.“Not that I can tell. I assume that’s normal. I doubt the whole pack went through life either in pain because they were horny and not getting sex or involved in a sexual encounter. If I use my body as a guide, it’s just maintaining itself. I’m not getting any stronger, but I don’t feel any weaker, either. Does that make sense?”“Yes.” I cupped her chin and rubbed my thumb across her cheek. “Someday, I’ll earn enough of your trust back that we can sleep together again properly. Then we’ll take it slow and see how powerful the two of us can make you.”“Beowulf is good with this plan?” she asked.
Helen’s POVComing back to Justin’s father’s mansion was like returning to a bad dream. Even the smell of the gardens around the place conjured up horrible images in my mind and feelings in my chest. The closer we got to the property, the harder I prayed that we would find something in Juden’s library that would validate this whole trip and all of these nasty feelings. Otherwise, what a waste it would be not only to spend the time coming all the way out here but to dredge up all the joint horrors of our past.When we arrived, Justin went to the door and tried his key in the lock. Frustration took over his face, and he tried to jam the key in a second time.“My father’s been here,” he growled. “He’s changed the locks.”“Should we break a window to get in?” Randy said, tossing a rock up in the air and catching it, a wicked grin on his face.Justin shook his head. “I don’t think he’s here, or he’d have either come out to meet us himself or sent someone out to greet us, either in a good o
Helen’s POV“So, Lisa,” I said. “Do you live around here?”She nodded. “For the past six months or so. I live across town. Thankfully, my house sits on a street that leads straight here to work. So even though the walk is fairly long, it’s a straight shot.” Hot, fragrant tea dribbled into the cup she worked with.“That’s nice,” I said, fumbling to keep the conversation natural while I fished for information. “Where does your husband work?”She shook her head. “I’m not married or mated.”I bit back my grin and tried to tamp down my swelling hope. After all, even if Lisa was single, she might not like Russo. But at least we were getting somewhere hopeful.“A boyfriend then?” I pressed.“Not recently,” she said, putting a generous dollop of whipped cream on the top of my chai.“That’s too bad,” I said without meaning a word of it.”She shot me a look I couldn’t quite read. “It’s not too bad. He was a jerk.”“Oh, I see.”She snapped a lid on my cup and handed it to me.“Like I said,” I st
Helen’s POVFive minutes before the end of Lisa’s shift, a young werewolf walked in and tied an apron around his waist, taking a place behind the counter. “Is everything going all right today, Lisa?” he asked.She nodded. “This is my friend, Helen. I’m going with her after work.”He smiled at the two of us. “I’m thrilled to see you making friends, Lisa. I’ve always worried that you were going to be a little bit lonely. Are you working the closing shift tomorrow?”She shook her head. “No. I’m off tomorrow. But I’ll see you again the day after.”The bells on the door jangled as another customer opened the door and walked to the counter.“Hi, Brad,” the male werewolf now working the counter greeted him. “The usual for everybody at the store tonight?”Brad nodded his head, and the werewolf got to work fixing cups of coffee which he already seemed to know. Lisa hung her apron up on a hook at the back wall and came around the corner to join me.“Let’s go meet these friends of yours,” she sa
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