“So, how did your honeymoon go afterwards?” Darnell questioned with a big grin on his face while we walked through the resort grounds. Jay and I had returned this morning, and it almost felt like he had known something had happened before he had even been told. I couldn’t figure it out. It didn’t matter in the long run, but I was curious about how he seemed to know.
I offered Darnell a smile and then asked, “before or after those crazy wolves showed up? Or should I say werewolves? Either way, crazy things!”
Chuckling, Darnell nodded. “Yeah, that happens more often than I’d like. We get into fights often with other packs. I suppose we will have to keep you out of our scuffles, as they can get really bloody at times,” he murmured.
I blink up at Darnell and then nod slowly. “I didn’t know being a werewolf would be dangerous. Why do they attack others?&rdq
The sound of snarling and howling fills my ears as soon as the fighting starts. I can just about see the rival pack on the outskirts of the forest and, from what I can see, they’re not a small group at all. There are easily twenty individual wolves out there, and that isn’t counting any that have come from the other directions into the resort.I bite my lower lip anxiously. I feel so powerless to help the people here, but I know going out there would only put me in danger. Unlike those that live here, I am no werewolf. I can’t transform and fight in another form and I certainly wouldn’t know how to fight in a human form either. There are no guns or anything here either, not that I would know how to use one of those, but the point is moot as I have no training to use one.All I can do is hope and pray that this rival pack backs off without too much bloodshed on either side. Holding my hands up to my chest, I watch as the fi
As I make my way over the rooftop to the other side, where there is a way down, I hear the Alpha smashing open the bedroom door at last and slamming into the chest I put in the way. He curses, but I don’t stick around to find out just what he thinks of me. I want nothing to do with this crazy man or his pack that wants to hurt others. I almost slip on a spot on the roof, but quickly gather my balance. “Goddess be damned!” The Alpha calls as he realises I’ve left through the window and onto the roof. With a glance behind me, I just about see the top of his head as he searches for my location. It doesn’t take him long to realise where I’ve gone, but I’ve no intention of allowing him to catch up with me. I quickly lower myself from the roof onto the metal fire-exit steps on the side of the building and dart down them as fast as my feet will carry me. “Damnit, woman! Get back here right now!” The Alpha demands of me. He still hasn’t learned
As I embrace the inevitable jaws of death, I can feel the Alpha’s hot breath on my neck. This is it. The end of my brief life in this world. A whimper escapes my lips, but before I can feel the release of life, someone knocked the Alpha off me with tremendous force.Looking up, my tear-stained face spots two wolves standing next to me protectively. One of them I instantly know is Jay. The other, I assume, is Darnell in his wolf form. I let out a shaky sigh of relief, though the crying doesn’t stop. I can’t believe how close my life was to ending.“You alright, Gwen?” Jay asked me, though he does not take his eyes off of the Alpha, who is slowly regaining his balance. “I know this is scary, but you have to get up. You are vulnerable here.”I nod hesitantly and get to my feet, though my knees are shaking and I can’t stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. “I’m okay… you t
Gripping the toy baseball bat in my hands, I stared down at the wolf in front of me. It lowered its head, not reading to assault me just yet. I held my breath and tightened my grip on the bat. This one didn’t seem as large or as strong as the others, but I did not doubt that those teeth would easily rip me to pieces easily enough. The growling from Darnell and the two wolves he is fighting almost dares to draw my attention. That is when I spot another charging right at me. I hesitate, taking a step back with wide eyes, though rather than come for me, the wolf bounces right into the one staring me down, knocking them off balance. They then look up at me with a wolfish grin and bounce around in excitement. “Well, isn’t this a fun day?” They say in a young, female voice. I can’t say I know who it is, but they must be from Jay’s pack if they’re saving me. They seem far too happy about all this, even as they look at the wolf on the ground. “Oh, go b
Now that everyone was more or less back in human form and dressed, I could finally feel at ease. I don’t think I will ever get used to seeing everyone being so open-minded about being naked as a werewolf is. I suppose for them they didn’t have as much choice. Now I understood why Jay did not once complain about how many clothes I got during our honeymoon. He only asked if I could wear them all, and that was it. For them, they must have gone through so many outfits in their lives.I have to admit, though, I never thought Jay could be so capable. Yet he has proven to me he has what it takes to lead his pack and take care of everyone. I only wish I could do more on my end. Being a weak human in a sea of werewolves was likely not the best situation for me or Jay. Though what could I do? It wasn’t as though I could strengthen myself or turn into something I was not.All I could do right now was help them clean
Jay looked at me like I had grown another head. It stumped him to hear me asking to speak to his grandfather. His head slowly tilted from one side to the other, while trying to place the reason behind my sudden request. He understood my thoughts on everyone having the skill to defend themselves, but why do I need to speak to the elder? That he couldn’t seem to grasp.“I’m not sure if my grandfather can actually help at all,” Jay said slowly and with some contemplation behind his words. “It’s not like we can magically make you something you are not,” he added.“I know that,” I huffed. “But he might know of a way that I can learn to defend myself too because I don’t want to be a weakness that you and your pack have. I don’t want to be weak and useless…”Jay made a small sound of complaint but relented soon enough to my request. “We can visit him. I don
The three of us sit in Jeremiah’s room. With how large it is, it doesn’t feel like this is a home for old people at all, and with how spritely the man is, he doesn’t act his age at all. This disillusions me to the truth, that he likely was placed here because of his health and age. I don’t ask, as it is not my business, but he doesn’t appear sick or in need of help. Maybe this is merely a good day for him?I shake my head free of the thoughts distracting me and look back to Jeremiah and Jay. The old man had mentioned there was a solution to my problem, but he hasn’t told me what that is yet. I want him to tell me now, but I know I can’t rush him without offending him, so I wait patiently.“How long are you going to make us wait?” Jay sighs as he leans back on the sofa and places a hand on my knee. He has less patience, it seems, but he doesn’t rush his grandfather either. I offer him a s
I suppose I shouldn’t have been so sure of myself after all. My feet ache and I am all hot and sweaty from traversing through the forest. I was true to my words, in that I wore suitable footwear, but that didn’t mean to say I was experienced with this kind of environment at all. I had underestimated just how hard it would be to travel through the forest. The biggest issues were the roots of the giant trees, not to mention the boggy areas, whenever we reached a river that ran through it.My only consolation for this entire journey into the unknown was that the birds singing overhead were surely the most beautiful sounds I had ever heard. They tweeted and darted about the trees without a care in the world. If only I could sprout wings and travel through this place without tripping and stumbling every second.Letting out an inaudible sigh, I looked ahead to see Jay had paused and was waiting for me to catch up. Had he been in his wolf fo
I just want to thank everyone who has come with me on this fluff/adventure/romance of a journey. Although not my first novel, it is one of my first straight-pairings and although I feared Gwen would either be too whiny or hyper, I am glad to see some people enjoyed her personality. I wanted to make her dependable by the end of the book, so I hope I pulled that off. Although I won't be getting to the sequel right away, I do plan to write one for this book. It'll focus on Gwen's twin sons, so please keep an eye out for that in the future! In the meantime, if you want to support me, please leave a review and some gems as I would greatly appreciate it! Even if you didn't like the book, I would like to hear what you think I could approve upon. Much love, and happy reading,Yukiro.
A few months have passed, and although it wasn’t easy, my pack has finally settled into their new home. It had taken us a long time to rebuild, but Bucky had helped us learn how to make cabins and how best to sustain ourselves out here. He couldn’t directly interfere with any conflicts, but he didn’t seem to have any issue with teaching us how to grow crops or forage for fruits.As soon as we were self-sufficient, he would leave us to continue his travels, but for now, he had promised to stay until we no longer had to rely on him. I never brought my pack to see the witches, but the witches knew I was going to bring my pack here, and my pack was now aware of my split bloodline. They never questioned where the witches were, but they knew to be respectful of the forest we now called home.Looking around at the slowly growing village, I couldn&rsq
“You want us to live where!?”Jay’s outrage at where I was taking him and our pack was everything I had expected him to showcase. Luckily, we were so far from Shaun’s lands now that I didn’t fear someone might hear him.Glancing at him, I offered a small smile. “I know you wouldn’t like it, but we don’t have many options,” I reply to him as I turn my attention to Aderyn in the sky. We had taken a very long route to reach Bucky’s place, and we were about halfway there by now.“I’d rather not give up our home,” Jay complained, lowering his voice again.I squeezed his hand in comfort. I knew how he felt and I too did not want to leave our home, but I had made a promise and knew this was for the be
The sound of warning cries enters the town down the bottom of the cliff, letting me know the shadow-wolves have begun their task of distracting everyone. Those who were still up near the backhouse seemed to hesitate before finally running off to join their pack. Shaun must have ordered them to find out what was going on.I wait for everything to be clear before nodding to Jay. “I need to release the prison guard from his sleep before I forget,” I tell him, placing a kiss on Jay’s nose. “I’ll be safe. No one will see me, but you cannot wait for me to get back. Follow Aderyn down the cliff’s path. We’re not going home, unfortunately.”Jay gives me a confused look but nods slowly before he makes his way towards the direction Aderyn leads him and the pack. There are better ways to collect our things than risk our pack
Shaun looks at me in disbelief. He looks from me to my raven, then back again, as if trying to figure out if this is really all I want in return for my pack. Perhaps he doesn’t even believe me about my shadows or that Aderyn is my familiar. Whatever he thinks, Aderyn has his own plans and glides over to Shaun and lands on his shoulder.Aderyn has Shaun’s full attention now and croaks, “she speaks the truth. She wishes no harm, or else she could have easily done so by now, but she wished to bargain her pack’s freedom for everyone’s safety instead.”“He can’t understand,” I say, but stop as soon as I realise that somehow Shaun has actually understood.Looking at me, Aderyn explains, “we’re connected now. I can pick the language for those to understand m
As soon as I reached the top of the stairs, I could hear the Alpha and Luna off in the distance and knew Aderyn was still distracting them enough for me to slip on out of the door and shut it behind me. There was no turning back as soon as we enacted the next phase of our plan, so I left the prison door unlocked, just in case my pack needed to make a run for it.I headed towards the Alpha’s room, knowing now where it was. The original plan was to have the Luna leave the packhouse before we caused the distraction, but this was still workable. As I slipped into the bedroom, I shut the curtains to the windows and set to work breaking the lights. I couldn’t have him turning them on and accidentally preventing me from using my gifts.Once that was done, I sent Aderyn the secret code through the shadows to let the raven know it was time to enact the next
With a loud croak, Aderyn leaves the rails and lands on the roof. It peers down at the Alpha and then, with a louder call, tells me, ‘I will distract him.’I nod slowly. Thankfully, only witches can understand familiars, and even then it isn’t always the case that we can understand one that belongs to another witch. Either way, I can get past the Alpha and into his room without being detected.I pause at the door, however, and glance back to Aderyn as he annoys Shaun. Is this really going to work? Just sneak in and sneak out? I can’t bring others with me in the shadows, and there are too many patrols to get out of here without a fight.I frown and turn back to the door. I have to at least confirm everyone is safe and well first, then I can deal with Shaun and his pack after. My idea isn&rsquo
The water is cold against my skin, even with all this fur on my body. As soon as Aderyn had returned, it let me know I could make it up part of the way before a patrol would become an issue. There were more further up that it would then become impossible, but this would get us past the outskirts of the border and at least as close as where I had washed up on shore the last time I was here. Any further and I’d find it hard to avoid patrols and battle the river’s current.Things can still go wrong, though, so I am cautious about how quietly I make my way upstream. Anytime Aderyn lets off a warning call, I lower my body further into the river’s waters. It takes a bit of practice, but there are spots even here where the shadows can help me blend in with my surroundings. The only issue is they are not as still as those on the ground.To say I am re
After returning to the location of my body, I release the bond with the raven, allowing it to fly back off to its nest or wherever it will go. I then look at Aderyn and sigh softly. “It won’t be easy, but we can get in just fine. It will be the getting out that will prove trickier,” I relay to it.Aderyn cocks its head to the side at me and then croaks, “there are many warriors there, each knowing the layout of the land. Fighting will not be easy for your people.”“I know,” I agree with a single nod. “That doesn’t mean it isn’t possible to find a way out, though.” With a fold of my arms, I mull over my options. I would rather not hurt the other packs, because that’ll just cause even more fear and terror to fill their minds, and now that I know the truth, I don’t want that to be my legacy.“If not to fight, can just scare off. Use shadows to m