*Ada*
Was this really happening?
My breath was coming in pants as Bryson sat up to appease my shaking fingers and rip his shirt off over his head. I sat up with him, fumbling with my own shirt before his steady hands assisted me with that as well.
He paused as he saw me laying there with just a bra on, his eyes even darker than I had seen them before, but I didn't hesitate at all. I wrapped my arms back up and around his neck, pulling him back to me.
The skin on skin touch was just as good as I imagined it would be. His contact spots seemed to tingle with anticipation and a shiver passed over me as goosebumps covered my skin, making me even more sensitive to his hot hands.
It felt so good that I didn't even notice the dirt and branches and leaves that were scratching along my bare back.
I opened my eyes again as he pulled back slightly to give us room to breathe. My vision blurred as I looked up at Bryson and for a moment I thought I was cry
*Ada*I rested my head against Bryson's chest again, just enjoying the comfort that came from his presence. It took me a minute of feeling the little tingles to remember that he was still shirtless."Oh, sorry," I said, leaning back. "Did you need your shirt back?"I started to hand it to him, but he shook his head quickly and pushed it back to me, averting his eyes."No, you can keep it," he said, his voice thick.I looked down in confusion and then remembered why I had his shirt in the first place. I had nothing but a bra on underneath. My cheeks burned as I wrapped it back around myself."Oh, right, thanks," I said, glancing around for my shirt. "Hold on one second."I hurried over to my shirt and threw it on before walking back over to Bryson and handing him his own shirt back. He was still trying to look the other way and be a gentleman, but I could see the tension in his body, and when I helped him up, I wasn't surprised to find
*Bryson*"Don't joke around about that," I said, then, hearing how harsh I sounded, added a, "Please."Ada had just made a joke about giving us medicine to make us feel like mates, without realizing that we already were mates."We need to tell her," my wolf said quietly in my mind, and for the first time in a while, I agreed with him.But nerves garbled my throat. How was I supposed to tell her that we were mates? When she didn't have a wolf to confirm it for herself. Would she believe me?Then again, I was pretty sure that she had just told me her deepest, darkest secrets, and that couldn't have been easy for her either."I'm sorry," Ada said again. "But…can I ask…what about the joke upset you? I mean, just so I know for the future."She looked at me with her sharp, intelligent eyes, and I felt guilty again for her feeling like she did something wrong. It wasn't her fault that she didn't know what we were."Ada…" I began. "I g
*Bryson*I was staring at Ada in anticipation and it was taking everything in me to keep my calm and composed mask in place. Because inside I was a raging mess of excitement, anticipation, and nerves.I was taking Ada to Grandmoon. Finally. And it didn't matter if she said it was for professional reasons, my heart couldn't help but leap at the idea of staying with her. A smile broke through my mask, showing my joy."I promise to re-enter the village under your protection and gather my things," she finally said, unable to smile herself. "Is that satisfactory for you?""Very," I said, a correlating grin growing larger.This was it. It was decided. Ada gripped my hand tighter and turned towards the direction of her home."Then what are we waiting for? Let's get going," she said as she pulled me along. "You said you needed to leave immediately, right?""Right," I said as I kept pace beside her.Neither of us spoke the rest of the w
*Bryson*I watched as the Alpha left, running towards saving his pack."Let's get her home to rest," Ada's mother suddenly said, drawing my attention back to her and Ada. "She seems to have run out of energy, and with all the chaos I think it best to get her somewhere safe from the fire and chaos.""I agree," I said, rushing forward to pick her up.It appeared that her mother was right. Ada's body had finally gone still, and had quit spasming. In fact, if I didn't know better, it looked like she had passed out from exhaustion. At least with her calmness came a calmness in my mind as well. No stabbing pain."I got you, Ada," I said comfortingly in her ear as I bent down and picked her up.I had no idea if she could actually hear me or not, but I had to give her some sign of support after everything I had to just sit through and watch. It selfishly made me feel better. Almost as if I had been comforting her the entire time.I adjusted h
*Bryson*My eyes flashed back and forth between Ada's mom and dad.Had I just heard them right? Had they said something about my mom? Did they know her? Were they aware of what actually happened to her? And what of my father? And what had she said? Something about a cursed Luna?My mind was so full of questions that I struggled to form coherent words."What? You--I--my mom?""It's not important," her father said with a wave of his hand. "It should not be I who tells you the truth, it is something that you need to discover for yourself.""Then why would you even bring it up?" I asked in irritation, finally finding my words. "Tell me what you know about my mother.""No," he insisted. "I thought you already knew, but there must be something else in motion. All I need from you is to swear to the moon goddess that if we let you take Ada to Grandmoon Pack, you will never fail her. That you will protect her at all costs, even if it puts you
*Ada*I couldn't wake up, no matter how hard I tried.It was like my conscience had been pushed to the back of my brain and I was fighting through every bit of muscle and tissue to get back to the front. But I was sure I was asleep. I had begun to recognize the signs of my visions…but that didn't make them any better.For instance, the panic was still gripping me as I found myself in a sea of fire. Even though I couldn't feel the burning, the pain, and even though I knew better, I couldn't control the fear.Bryson. Where was Bryson? He would be able to help me. He always made it to help me.Yet I didn't see him now.I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. There was nobody to hear me anyway.Except then there was.Wolves surrounded me now, and I couldn't control my hands as they struck out at anyone within striking distance. I looked down and saw my hands, wait no, my paws, covered in blood.As a healer, I was
*Ada*With a huge gasp, I sat bolt upright in bed.There was shouting and chaos all around me and I could hear people scrambling around. My eyes were open, but I wasn't taking any of it in. It was just shapes and voices. But then there was one voice in particular that I focused on."Ada!" Bryson whispered my name, but it felt like a shout.I turned, my eyes finally finding him. The residual fear from the dream was still pounding in my heart, but this time I was able to clearly differentiate between the person in the dream and Bryson.They were not the same person. They could never be the same person.Bryson seemed to notice the fear in my eyes though, he rushed forward."What is it? Are you hurt? What's wrong?" he asked in a worried tone, pushing my hair back from my face and feeling my forehead as if checking for fever.Yep, there was no similarity at all in him and the evil mate in my dream. Bryson cared about me. Even if he
*Ada*Mates? Bryson and I? No, we couldn't be…Could we?I looked at Bryson again, really focusing on him and it felt as if a lightbulb went off, a fire lighting deep inside me.I thought of how I felt so drawn to him. I thought of how my feelings had grown so quickly, and how I hated to be apart from him. Everything I had done seemed destined by the gods, and I realized that it was true.Bryson was my mate.Without my wolf I hadn't realized, but it was clear now. My heart swelled as it continued to pound. There was a faint feeling of deja vu, as if part of me already realized or had discovered that he was my mate.The surprise was still so profound that I couldn't say anything, even as Cole continued to look between the two of us. My gaze went back to Bryson, but he was avoiding me.Had he already realized we were mates as well? If so, why hadn't he told me? His wolf was weaker, but I was sure that he should have figured it ou
*Ada*Cole's attitude towards his fake mate might have improved, but the ex-friends had not.This was entirely evident when the poison she had continued to slip us took full effect. The scene opened up before my eyes, and I could see that it was the night of the full moon. That was all I managed to observe though before the body I was in went out of control.The feeling was familiar as an extremely powerful force burst from inside, taking over the body and exploding out into a different shape. This time, due to the poison's effects, the power was uncontrollable and physically blew out from her body. The force blasted down the closest parts of the Alpha's house, and flames overtook the rest.We watched in a daze as people ran and screamed, the Alpha house continuing to burn to the ground."It's her, it's the cursed Luna!" A voice cried out, and she was vaguely aware that it was the voice of the ex-friend. "She is the one doing this!"More cries of fear and anger, a call to action
*Ada*Ignorance is bliss.And lucky for the cursed Luna, she was unaware of everything going on since she had taken the love breaking potion.Unlucky for me, I was not unaware.Though, her thoughts began to cloud my own, and I started to feel the same way that she did. Cole was our mate and the true Alpha, and we would do anything to make him happy. So when she found out she was pregnant, she took off to tell Cole first thing.She grabbed the door to his room and flung it open, but the smile that lit up her face and her insides was wiped clean as the scene of the room unfolded. Cole was there, yes, but he was butt naked, and it obviously wasn't her in his bed.It was her best friend. At least, that's what I gathered from the sense of betrayal and heartbreak that was coursing through our shared mind. And even in the few seconds that they continued their actions it was clear that this wasn't the first time.In fact, when she let out an audible gasp, he turned around to simply dism
*Ada*Cole stood there, in front of everyone…claiming credit for everything that Bryson had just completed. I knew it wasn't really Cole, since this was a vision of the past, but it was his image standing there now, just as Bryson's image was there.I looked towards Bryson, and he looked back at me. The question on his face mirrored my own: What would we do now?"What the hell, Cole?" Bryson asked, loud enough for everyone to hear.Cole shrugged. "I am doing what I want for a change and getting what I want."He struck out at Bryson before he even had a chance to react. Their father stood back and watched as the fighting ensued between his two sons, looking no more worried than if he was watching a race.The fight was vicious, and on a good day I was sure that Bryson would have won. Yet he had just exhausted all of his energy actually doing all of the work that Cole took credit for, and the exhaustion was showing in his motions.I knew it hurt him to fight his own brother, and I
*Ada*The scene starts to clear around me again as a new scene takes place.This one is a lot more like the previous scenes I had beheld, where my emotions were geared more towards fear and worry. My bond was on edge as I searched for Bryson.I didn't know where he was at, but I could tell that he was injured.Finally I found him, and all the panic came to a head when I saw how serious the injury was. I jumped right into action, grabbing anything I could and binding his wounds. I could tell she wasn't as experienced a healer as me and I begged to be able to use my body again.Even though it wasn't actually Bryson laying in front of me, I was itching to heal him. Seeing him hurt was hurting my heart, whether it was real or not."Sorry," I whispered out as he winced under my inexperienced fingers."It's not your fault," Bryson said, attempting to smile. "You shouldn't be wasting your time and energy on me. I will heal on my own soon anyway.""I don't care," I said. "I can't just
*Ada*Darkness.Why was I always surrounded in darkness?There was a light pressure in my head and then the scene before my eyes began to lighten, and I recognized the dream world that I had so often entered now. Except this time it felt…different. Yet I couldn't quite place why.Once again I felt the strange sensation of being somewhere both familiar and unfamiliar, with a lack of self-control. This time wasn't so dim though, not like the visions before.It was bright.And also different was that instead of terror, I felt joyful…happy…content. It was almost more concerning, just because I was used to the negative emotions. However, it was impossible to stay worried for long with the positivity coursing through my body.No, not my body. The body from my dreams…the cursed Luna?I knew the name should mean something more to me, but I couldn't seem to focus on any of my own thoughts. Once more I was sucked into her life and her emotions, overtaking all of my own. Though with the p
*Bryson*All the wolves fell on us at once, and I was in shock, my body not responding.Was Ada really the cursed Luna's niece?? Did she know she was? I didn't think so.Ada's wolf whimpered suddenly, bringing me back to focus."Bryson!" Cole yelled out. "We have to get her away!"He was annoying nine times out of ten, but I had to admit that I had appreciated his help with Ada so far. His flirting with her had irritated me, but if it helped keep her safe now, then I couldn't care.Wolves blocked my path to her, shoving me back and forth."Cole, get to her!" I yelled out, but I could see him fighting through the hoard too.Ada let out another yelp that tore at my heart, and then I saw a red wolf jumping overhead. She had gotten enough space and had jumped. There were too many wolves though, and she landed on a few, rolling awkwardly.I ran towards her, but she was already attempting to run further away. Good. I could always catch up. She needed to get out of here.She was doi
*Ada*My bedroom door shut behind me and Bryson was instantly pressing me up against it, kissing my lips just as hard as before.I was breathless in seconds."You can't distract me," I said when his lips moved to my neck, giving me time to breathe. "I still don't feel comfortable with you going alone.""I don't want you in danger," he whispered against my neck. "But we can talk about that after…right now I just want to show you how much I missed you."His lips came back to mine, and this time I couldn't resist. With a moan I brought my hands up into his hair, tugging him even closer. Bryson's hand slid up under my shirt, but instead of the pleasure it usually brought me, a sudden wave of nausea came over me.I pulled back sharply, and pushed Bryson away. He was so surprised that he was easy to move."What--" he began to say, but I didn't give him any time to finish before taking off towards my bathroom.Even in my rush, I locked the door behind me. This wasn't something that he
*Bryson*We were moving through the dark forest, and I was suddenly thankful for my werewolf eyes. I was anxious to get back to Ada, and I didn't want to wait until morning.I hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye to her before my father had dragged me off, and the thought was eating me up. The only consolation was the fact that now that we were mated I could feel if she was okay or not.But the mate bond was also making me more and more anxious the longer we were apart."Come on, can't you slow down just a little?" Ethan huffed from beside me, trying to keep up.I pushed myself even faster. "We're almost there.""Exactly, so why can't we slow down finally. It's not like-- wait, what is that?"My eyes quickly looked up and followed his line of sight where there was a glow against the skyline. I felt my chest tighten."What could that be?" Ethan asked. "It is much too early to be the sun, and it's coming from the completely wrong direction for the sunrise. It's coming from…wel
*Ada*The words from my visions kept coming back to my mind, louder than ever."She's the cursed Luna!""She has to die!""Kill her!"And here was a book, right in front of me, that might hold some answers to whatever it was those people were calling me--- no, calling her, not me: the woman from my visions."Hooked you already, didn't I?" Cole asked smugly, but I wasn't even paying attention to him anymore.My fingers shook slightly as I folded back the front cover and the first few pages until I found writing. It was nearly as sparse as the information on the Western Pack and obviously just as biased.'THE CURSED LUNA:Driven mad by pregnancy. Her power was so insatiable that she needed to be fed blood every day to stay awake. She draws her energy from her destined mate.As a danger to our Alpha, she was locked away in a basement that would restrict her from siphoning the Alpha's power. She was kept there for many years, restricting her access to the moon as well. Weakening