I blinked at her for a second, then another. A full minute passed as my brain was trying to understand while dancing around the more important information. It made sense that neither of us felt one another if she didn’t have a wolf. It wasn’t that she was attached to anyone else, it was that she didn’t have access to the instinct. In that vein, Onan wouldn’t be able to connect with her as well.
On a less important note, it was a she-wolf. While my father and Damian had both had she-wolves for mates, that wasn’t necessarily the norm for our family. My Grandfather, as well as his father, both had male mates. So it happened but I had a she-wolf. That was new news.
‘She’s not yet eighteen.’
I winced. ‘Onan, I was trying...’
He snorted. ‘Think of everything else but that? Yes, I know. That’s why I said it. They are underaged. That doesn’t mean much exce
I was sitting in the airport, with Ember next to me, reading a book. Our flight would be leaving in two hours at 12:30 p.m. From there, we would get to the major city near the pack at 9:00 p.m. on the same day. Due to the time change, I’d be leaving on Friday and getting there on Friday. There was still the three hour drive North but Ember had her car parked at the airport so we wouldn’t need to pay for a ride-share.In total, it was about a fifteen hour flight including the layover. I also personally wouldn’t have paid for First Class, the lounge was were now enjoying was for those who were privileged enough to drop that kind of money on one flight. However, Damian was paying and as Ember put it, he wouldn’t let her fly any way but in comfort. Especially when he wasn’t able to go with her.Pulling up my phone, I dialed the number I was most dreading to talk, though not the end of my list. It picked up after a single ring and the
The whole flight was pretty uneventful. I’d slept through most of it and it was only the hour and a half flight after our layover did I pull out my book to read. Once we landed, Ember was groggy and completely out of it. I volunteered to drive and she accepted, not that I would have allowed her behind the wheel if she didn’t, but it gave her a chance to feel okay with sticking me with the three hour drive.Once we got about ten minutes outside the pack, she perked up. Grabbing her phone, she dialed a number and put it on speaker. The phone rang twice before someone picked up. That someone being Brittany St. James.“Luna, are you almost here?”“Yes. Sorry to keep you up so late.”She huffed. “It’s fine. I’m happy to help. The council members tend to keep weird hours and so I’m used to being called in at weird times.”Ember nodded and I smirked, wondering if she did gestures like that
*** Winter’s POV ***“Winter!”The pencil in my hand slipped and made a long mark across my page. Looking up, I had hoped I didn’t hear Caleb yelling my name. I’d already been relegated to my room tonight without dinner. There wasn’t anything else I could do or did do at this point.“Winter! Get down here now!”I winced again. Slowly getting up out of my chair, I opened up my door. Rebecca was leaning against her doorframe, smirking. Caleb must have come home a little while ago. He was late again tonight and it was already eight in the evening. Stepping timidly down the stairs, I stopped at the bottom.Gamma Maddox was grinning like an idiot whereas Caleb looked absolutely livid. Hannah had her arms crossed over her chest, looking annoyed. Gamma bounded over to me and ruffled my head. The tension was so thick that I couldn’t
I curled up against my locker for a moment. My hand pressed against my chest as I took slow breaths. Today it seemed worse. It was nearly impossible to take a full breath and I might as well have the entire rugby team sitting on chest.Shoving everything into my locker, I took as much of a breath as I could before heading to the cafeteria. Krista was already waiting for me with lunch. Since I picked her up this morning in Mr. Penn’s shiny new car, the chef her family had made both our lunch and breakfast. He enjoyed cooking for everyone and I swear had the saddest puppy dog eyes when you tried to say no to his food.The cafeteria was loud but it definitely wasn’t as loud as it usually was. Sitting down at our usual table, Krista leaned over as she glanced around the room.“Do you know what the hell is going on?”I shook my head. “I don’t but everyone is feeling it.”It was true. Something was off today. The air was charged and something was making
The week only got weirder from there. On Wednesday, there was about a fourth of the students missing. At least for high school. Parents were keeping them at home while other students seemed to be more on edge too. Krista’s parents even wanted her to say home but she refused. Instead, her dad and Dee drove her to and from school.Thursday, a third of the students were missing and by Friday we were down to half. Coach Graves wasn’t even pretending to teach class. There were only nine of us left in his class out of a class of twenty. He kept us in the gym but let us mull around more than usual.I was glad because I wasn’t really feeling up to anything. The stress was starting to get to me even though the elephant on my chest seemed to ease just a bit for right now. I could also take a full deep breath which seemed like a luxury now. Instead, I was hunched over my notes for Biology.Monday would be a half-day for the seniors before midterms started on Tuesday. My fi
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It hurt to breathe normally today. I could take a full breath but it was like someone was squeezing my lungs as I did. Or I was being sat on. It had been like that all night and into this morning.It hadn’t helped my stress level when I went to drop off Krista, her house looked like makeshift army camp. Krista tried to get me to stay but Mr. St James pulled her away and told me to go straight home.However, no one was in the house when I woke up this morning. It was Saturday so usually at least Hannah and Rebecca were mulling about. Caleb and Rebecca’s car were still gone. Rebecca must have been staying over somewhere else but Caleb and Hannah missing was weird.At least there was no one stopping me from getting breakfast and eating it at the table. My phone buzzed as I took a bit of my cereal.K: Something is going on in town.
I pried my arm out of his grasp and shook my head. “He might listen to me. It’s stupid. I know. But I can use myself as leverage. If you’re so worried about my chastity, then come with me.”Turning again, I made my way into the party. There were different groups that were filling the main center. Some were around music, dancing and drinking without a care. Some were starting fights and what looked like gambling. It looked like a movie set. I wondered if Galen promised them that they wouldn’t get in trouble for anything as long as they stuck with him.As I maneuvered through the sea of drunk assholes, I hit the inner ring. It was a weight ring around both the bonfire and the gazebo. They were just talking and laughing, drinking, dancing and watching the chaos of the surrounding groups.I couldn’t understand why Rebecca was sitting in the gazebo with Galen. She always said that he gave her the ick too. It might have been the onl
“How about it, Little Winter? Want to try and change the world?”“The world? No. But if it gets your ass out of town, then I’m all for it.”I didn’t like how close he was now. He had stepped down and up to me. Crossing my arms over my chest, I forced him to lean back a little if he wasn’t going to touch me. He did, smirking at me as his eyes looked me up and down.“How about this? If you can touch me, simply just touch me, in five minutes, then I will leave. I’ll pack up everyone and go.”My eyes narrowed. “I don’t want you just gone from town. Whatever the hell you’ve been trying to do this week, I want it to stop. Stop trying to take over. It’s not going to work and this little display just proves it.”His chest rose and fell. Galen was annoyed and I could see him having a real hard time holding back his anger. Still, with a final wrinkle of his nose, he nod
I sat in the passenger seat of Mrs. St James giant black Wagoneer. We had left the pack territory a while ago as we drove north. Outside of telling me I looked lovely and asking me to buckle up, she didn’t say anything for the entire drive so far. There was some jazz playing lightly in the background and I looked out the window, everything outside being completely new to me.“Winter.”My head snapped to her. “Yes?”“You will be meeting with the entire Council. I will not be with you. You will be on your own and a few of them aren’t happy with an extra meeting today.”Nodding, I listened carefully to her. She wasn’t looking at me, her face serious as she watched the road. It was her in work-mode. A heaviness to her tone.“You cannot argue. You cannot treat them as you would your pack. While you might rebel against the Alpha, but you cannot do that to them. They would just as easily decide that you’re not worth it.”It wasn’t a matter of seeing me as a child wasting their time. She was
“Winter, do you know what you are asking for?”I stood in Mrs. St James’ office. She had stared at me a long time when I asked her to take me to speak to the Council of Elders. Luckily, she didn’t dismiss me immediately. Instead, she asked Krista to help me get dressed and then meet in her office. I expected that we would be alone, but Mr. St James was leaning against the wall behind her.“I do.”Mrs. St James leaned forward, her elbows on her desk as she rested her chin on her hands. “Winter, bringing the Council into this…it would get messy. It would also be leaving the decision in their hands. You might not like the outcome. They might not decide in your favor.”I looked down, clasping my own hands together. “I know. Thinking over this past week, I tried to think of what I could do. I felt, powerless, despite telling Caspian that we could figure it out. Leaving it all up to him, when the reason why I’m fighting so hard against this is purely selfish. It’s because I don’t want to le
We pulled into the pack house driveway and I was surprised to see quite a few cars around. The pressure on my chest felt heavier when I realized not a single one of these cars was Caspian’s. Getting out, I left my backpack behind and Caleb even waited for me to walk with him to the door. Did he think I would run? Looking around, I wondered if it would be an option.“Inside, Winter.”Nodding, I walked into the house. What used to be a safe place for me now felt slimy. It felt like I didn’t belong here anymore. Nor did I feel welcome. Stepping into the kitchen, Luna Ember smiled and started to pull me into a hug, but I stepped back. Caleb growled but I didn’t care. Not after everything.“Winter…I know it may not seem like it now…but we really just want the best for you.” She stopped trying to hug me, at least. “I know it’s hard to see now, but trust us.”All I wanted to say was no. I didn’t want anything to do with any of this. This was wrong. Everyone knew it and I didn’t understand why
*** Winter’s POV *** “You doing okay?”This had to be the fifth or sixth time that Krista had asked that today. It made me wonder if I really looked that miserable. Or if it was just the fact that there was more of a presence of the pack warriors than normal at the school. They were here to make sure everyone was safe but Krista, myself, some of the teachers, and Principal Miles knew better.“Krista, stop asking, please. You’re just making it worse by asking.” I closed my locker, staring at the front of the blue metal door. “I don’t know if I can be.”There was a good part of me that regretted my decision. Stepping out of Caspian’s arms, hurt so much more than I thought it would. The looked on his face broke me. I couldn’t believe what Alpha and Caleb had done. I couldn’t believe they would go that far or that they would think it was okay.Of course we would fight that! I didn’t care what Caleb said, Caspian was my mate. I knew it. I felt it. There was no way that Caspian wasn’t my m
“What…what is going on?” Winter looked between her Alpha and her father.Onan was sitting just behind my consciousness. He was ready to take over and fight both of these wolves. The fact that one of them was our brother didn’t matter at this point. None of that mattered. These two were trying to take our mate away. I didn’t think they would try to go this far. It didn’t even register that this was an option.“No.”It was a single word from me. However, between Onan and I, the growl and the power that came with it, it might as well have been a right hook to the face of both of them. I was still holding Winter against me, her hand holding my arm. What’s worse is that I could feel her shaking.“You want to break an alliance, Caspian? We need to keep our alliances if we are going to survive. We break this, and we lose their support. Support we count on often.” Damian was struggling still under my anger. “We need this.”“Not. Winter.” I struggled not to shift, the only thing keeping me grou
Standing up from my lean, I cocked my head to the side. “I mean, it wouldn’t be a great travel time but I could do it. Probably not every day.”Winter frowned as she stopped, looking up at some of the books. “Wouldn’t it be easier just to move to the city? You wouldn’t need to commute as much. It would be less stressful.”Now I could see where she was going with this. Walking over to her, taking her hand in mine and kissing the back of her hand, I shook my head.“I’m not here to work, Winter. If I wanted to solely work, if I wanted to focus on this side, I wouldn’t have left England.” Her eyes widened but I smiled. “I’m here now for my mate. For my other half. I could move here. I could move back to England. I could do all these things to make it easier to do something that I love. I’m not here for that.”“But…this is your job.”I shook my head again. “This is something that I enjoy. A hobby. I could turn it into my full time job if I wanted. Not at the cost of losing my mate. I came
I couldn’t help the smile that filled my face as Winter looked up in awe. We had gone through the entrance and I was speaking with the front desk for a moment to get our badges. I’d contacted Carrie to get some strings pulled. Under the guise checking out their research facilities for my work, I wanted to show Winter more than just the museum exhibits. However, looking at the awe on her face, she might have been okay with that.“I remember it being big when I was little, but I didn’t realize they were this big even as I grew up. It almost seems impossibly big.”“It is, isn’t it? Sometimes we forget that there are things bigger than us. Especially being wolves. We are strong and it can seem like we are at the top of the food chain. Except in the face of something like a dinosaur.” I was waiting for the director to come out and confirm my identity. “You said you came here before though?”Winter nodded. “We were supposed to go to the water park. It started to pour and the school had to ch
I wondered how long I could get away with ignoring Damian’s shouting in my head. We had another half hour or so to the end of the pack territory. If I could make it that long, then I would be fine.‘ANSWER ME! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?’This time I winced. Onan growled, it echoing just as loud for him. Winter must have caught my flinch since she looked over at me. I gave her smile, but winced again when Damian mind linked me again.‘YOU DID NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO TAKE HER! DO NOT MAKE ME REPORT YOU FOR KIDNAPPING, CASPIAN!’“Alpha, I’m assuming?” She looked back to see if the car was still following us.Nodding, I looked in the mirror as well. They hadn’t stopped, but they had backed off quite a bit. I wondered what Damian was thinking. It didn’t make sense to pull them only to yell at me. Not to mention that his accusation of kidnapping would be on shaky ground. At least within the pack laws.“I’m wondering if I can just ignore him until we get to the border. His mind
‘Just go in, Caspian. No one is going to think it’s weird you’re there.’ Onan was at his limit with me and I could feel his irritation at my hesitation.“I can’t just…go in. One, I’m not a teacher anymore. Two, I’d be picking up Winter. Which would end up raising flags.”He let off an annoyed sigh. ‘Outside the fact that she is our mate and it’s not weird. You are now Caspian Herne. The wolfs out of the bag. You can’t hide anymore that you are the Alpha’s brother. Both good and bad.’Rubbing my face, I let out a more exasperated sigh. Damian and Ember had been using that to their advantage. Every time I went into town, went shopping, or even at home, they had a wolf watching me. I didn’t know what they expected me to do, but apparently, it was something.Whether or not I wanted to let them be at the mercy of the Council, I worried that Winter would end up in the crosshairs. I worried that I would lose her simply because I wanted to spite my brother and didn’t wait to think about how I