Russo’s POVLisa let us into the apothecary’s shop. The scent of herbs, dried and fresh, hit my nose, making the inside tingle. Before I could hold it back, two violent sneezes burst from my nose. I caught them with my elbow to cover.Lisa laughed. “It takes a while to get used to the scent of this stuff.”She walked to the werewolf behind the counter and passed him the list. “I’m going to need these herbs as fast as possible, please.”“In what quantities?” the werewolf asked.Lisa bent over the list, studying it, and I suddenly became very glad that we had her on our side. When I read the books, Solomon’s Key had listed measurements that I was completely unfamiliar with.What exactly was a thumb of powdered wormwood? Because my thumb was significantly bigger than hers if we were using actual fingers as measurement.But Lisa rattled the measurements off to the werewolf, who seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. He jotted the notes on an invoice. When they finished, the we
Helens POV The week before the full moon was jam-packed with activities. After we’d found the key of Solomon, I thought the two weeks leading up to the full moon were going to take forever. I wanted to act so badly.I had made arrangements with Freya for the spine, and I saw Justin when I could. But for the first time, I realized a flaw in Justin’s plan. Or maybe not so much a flaw because he’s been pretty upfront with me about the fact that he wanted me to do the research and then to sit back and let him in the warriors handle things.What I didn’t internalize when he said that was that once I had done the research, my job was pretty much over. And all I was left to do was worry.At first, I tried sitting in on the meetings that he and Randy had with the warriors. No one stopped me, and I got a little thrill from being what I felt was an active part of this until I realized that the strategy was beyond anything that I was capable of working on.Randy and Justin were setting up a per
Helen’s POVThe Huntsman sat me up on the sofa and then moved and crouched in front of me so that we were eye to eye. He placed both arms on my knees, crossing them across each other very casually.“My dear little wolf, of course, I didn't forget you. I have been waiting and putting together the perfect game for us. You see, you've made my job very difficult. I tried to torture you by hurting your body, and it didn't work. I tried to torture you by destroying your friends, and you remained whole. I tried to break you by forcing you to nearly kill the one you love, yet here you are.”He grimaced. “I have abducted you, chained you, beat you, and still none of my methods work.”He rocked back on his heels and rubbed his hands together gleefully. “So, you see, my dear. It took me some time to come up with the sort of game that would get through to you that would really affect you and that mongrel of a husband of yours.”“I need the last lycan to suffer.”“Why?” I demanded.Now that I knew
Helen’s POVMartin walked over, placing a hand on Julianne's head. He muttered something, and my guts twisted. When she woke up, this was going to be horrible. She and Peter were so happy together. They were newlyweds.What would Peter do if he discovered that she was going to end up in love with another man? Would she ever go back to Peter? Would she ever want him properly again? Or were they doomed in some tragic relationship where their wolves were bonded, but her head and heart were turned elsewhere by magic?Martin kept his hand on her head and continued to mutter while sprinkling herbs over the top of her. Julianne's eyes glazed over for a moment before locking on to the Huntsman. She drew in a gasp, her cheeks flushing into a blush that spread all the way down her neck and into the little bit of her chest that showed above the neck of her shirt. It was the flush of lust.She gave a whimper, reaching for the Huntsman, and he slap
Helen’s POV“Now, my dear little Wolf,” the Huntsman purred. “Shall we get married first? Or should we go straight to the bedroom?”I was nearly panting with desire at this point. “I don't care,” I gasped out.And I really didn't. The Huntsman could do whatever he wanted to me, marry me, fuck me. I didn't care as long as it was with my Huntsman.He tapped my nose. “I think we should do both. And film it! Martin, get the camera.”Martin bowed, and the Huntsman pulled me to my feet, carefully untying both my hands and my ankles. A ripple of disappointment went through me. I was sure he'd tied me up for something kinky.But if my darling thought that we needed to do something else instead, whatever he wanted, I’d do. I followed as the Huntsman led me out of the room we were in, away from the sofa. After leading me down a short hallway, he opened the door to a bedroom. Ins
Justin's POV“What do you mean they're gone?” I roared.Randy flinched back from me. “I'm sorry. I don't know anything more than you do. I spent the morning with you, as you well know.”“Where were her guards?”The news that Helen and her friend had been abducted once again sent both my temper and Beowulf’s into a frenzy. Containing him was taking every bit of my willpower. He wanted to burn down everything around us, to both get Helen back and to punish any and everyone for letting this happen.Randy scowled at me. “The guards were found unconscious at their post. They've been hit with darts from a distance. It wasn't that they didn't do their job. It was that we were outmaneuvered, plain and simple.”I snarled and threw the glass that I was holding at the wall, where it shattered. “This is unacceptable. Who took her?”“Who do you think?” Rand
Russo's POVI trudged back to my house feeling horrible, churnings in my stomach. We lost Helen. She was now in the clutches of a half demon.Somehow that knowledge made her situation seem worse than the last time the Huntsman had gotten his hands on her. Because then we thought he was just an evil person, but somehow knowing that a demon had his hands on one of my best friends made me physically sick.Lisa was in the kitchen brewing something on the stove when I walked in. The scent of it burned my nose.“What are you working on?” I asked her.She turned around to look at me, and her spoon clattered to the stove top. “What's happened now?” she asked.“We're pretty sure the Huntsman has taking Helen,” I told her.She covered her mouth with both hands, gasping. “It's a good thing I'm starting on the potion that we’ll need for the rite,” she said. “This needs to s
Russo’s POVRandy nodded slowly in agreement, though I could see on his face he still found the whole situation utterly distasteful. I fully agreed but Lisa did have a minor point. Helen wasn't hanging from chains or something in the Huntsman's basement, And he wasn't making her watch him pluck the wings off pixies.Helen might be a captive, and he might be using her, but the fallout could be dealt with later. And the focus right now really did need to be on bringing the Huntsman down.I turned to Lisa. “You have the ink boiling. What else do we need to get done? Let's make sure that everything is ready to go. Absolutely nothing should get in our way of making this ritual happen.”She nodded. “We have the ink ready. We have the herbs we need. Those will get burned or sprinkled during the ritual, at least the ones that weren't used in the ink. But we need one other thing to make this happen. We need a sacrifice.”
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