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54. A Step Forward
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2025-03-10 01:00:50I 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
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Winter 55. Home
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Last Updated : 2025-03-10Winter 56. Stubborn Little Wolf
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
Last Updated : 2025-03-11Winter 57. Game Your Playing
*** 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
Last Updated : 2025-03-12Winter 58. Feeling Off
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
Last Updated : 2025-03-13Winter 59. From Off to Wrong
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
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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.
Last Updated : 2025-03-15Winter 61. Taking A Chance
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
Last Updated : 2025-03-15Winter 62. A Losing Bet
“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
Last Updated : 2025-03-16
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Winter 77. Flower Girl Energy
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
Winter 76. Loosely Considered Kidnapping
‘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
Winter 75. Anger
The kitchen was quiet for a moment. My brother and I stared at each other. Ember was looking at me as well, but she turned to her mate. He didn’t look at her. His focus was on me and I wondered if it was because he was still deciding if giving me the truth was worth it. My hand curled into a fist.“Yes, we made the decision to lock Winter’s wolf away!” Ember was the one who answered, the words tumbling out of her mouth.My eyes continued to watch my brother as he sighed and rubbed his eyes, his back falling against the wall. He pulled his leg up and frowned. Damian looked exhausted, but not from the blooming bruise on the side of his face.“We…we made the decision. A choice. To protect her and the pack. Especially after Linny passed…” Ember sat back on her knees, looking up at me. “Yes, we made the choice. I’m sorry, Cas.”“Why? Why would you do that? What could a young wolf do to pose such a threat that you brought in magic, forbidden magic I might add, to seal away her wolf? You can’
Winter 74. Rolling Up Your Sleeves
*** Caspian’s POV ***I tried to be as normal as possible for Winter. She was already nervous going with Maddox and I to the diner. It was funny because we definitely turned a few heads. However, once we sat down, she relaxed a little. Not as much as I wished though.This had broken her. She spoke about not having her wolf but the fact that it had been taken from her. Not that she wasn’t supposed to have one, didn’t just devastate her. I was gutted. It wouldn’t change how I felt about having her as a mate. My acceptance of her wouldn’t change. This just felt so raw.I’d had Onan with me years before most wolves did. We were a team. Albeit a weird team. We didn’t think or work together like other wolves but he was the other part of my soul. My grouchy old man part of my soul.‘Hey.’I chortled. “Tell me I’m wrong.”Onan huffed. ‘Whatever.&
Winter 73. Who You Are
I curled up tighter, not wanting to hear whatever was going on downstairs. There was yelling, that was for sure. It got louder for a second before I realized it was because someone was opening my door. The yelling mellowed down to a murmur again. Someone touched my shoulder and I jumped.“Winter…”Tears that I thought were done filled my eyes and I curled up tighter, trying to get away from the voice. I knew it. It was the voice I wanted to avoid like the plague. Who would want a wolf-less mate? Who would accept anyone like that? And an Alpha at that?“Talk to me, Winter. Please.” His hand brushed my arm, but I tried to scoot as far away as I could. “Look at me at least.”Squeezing my eyes shut, I lifted my head. Slowly, I peeled them open. Caspian was sitting on the bench in front of me. His face reflected the worry I heard in his tone. My tears fell and I started to shake my head.“Oh, little wolf.
Winter 72. What It Means to Lose
Caleb slammed the door behind him as he got out of the car. He didn’t wait for me or even help me. He just walked into the house. Stepping out gingerly to the driveway, I slung my bag over my shoulder before slowly making my way into the house.Closing the door behind me, I was surprised to find Caleb with a beer in hand, leaning against the kitchen counter. I didn’t even know we had beer, let alone that Caleb drank it. He shook his head as he looked up at me.“You ruined years of mentoring and work.”I frowned. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”“Galen Rue, you stupid girl. I have been mentoring him and pushing him to take over for Alpha Damian. It’s time that Damian step down. He has no children and I don’t think he ever will. Galen was the obvious choice and only needed a little help.”For a moment, I stared at Caleb. I hoped he was joking. It didn’t look like h
Winter 71. Snapped
Collapsing against the bed, I shook my head. For the most part, my throat had healed. My voice was still a bit soft but it didn’t feel straining to use it anymore. The issue now was walking. I’d been so weak from two weeks in bed that it was like I was trying to learn to walk again. It frustrated me that I would get so tired simply from walking down the hall and back.“You did good, Winter. Better than last time. You’re getting stronger. That’s progress.”I gave the nurse a deadpanned look and she laughed.“I mean it. Two weeks in a coma might not seem like a lot but it is.”“Yeah. Sure. Whatever you say.”She laughed again but it was cut off by some commotion outside the door. It sounded like chaos until a voice rose above all the noise. A voice I knew well but I never thought I would hear in the hospital. The nurse, also confused, stepped out from the room to see what was going on.
Winter 70. Colors
There something about being held by Caspian. I’d felt it when he carried me to the hospital. I felt it last night and now tonight. It felt like home. A feeling I had been working toward, but thought it would only be when I finally kicked my family out. Feeling it now, I wondered if I had it wrong all this time. That I would have been disappointed the moment I made the house mine but never really had that sense of home from it. No matter how much remodeling I did.“I want you to move in with me.”The words tumbled out awkwardly and Caspian pulled back, shock written all over his face. “What?”My face turned bright red and I stammered. “I…that’s not…I mean…shit.” Rubbing my eyes, I dragged my fingers down my face. “I just…I’ve been working towards getting the house from Caleb. And on my birthday, I’m going to kick him out. With the lawyer and everything. I just&h
Winter 69. Sweet Summer Child
Krista squealed as I gave her a rundown of what I spoke about with Caspian, and also how I felt after. When I was done, I buried my face in my hands. She sat up, straddling my legs as she faced me.“You can’t be embarrassed, Winny! He’s your mate!”“Yeah but…like…this is all…I’ve never…” I could feel my ears getting red.Krista laughed. “Oh you sweet summer child.”“Winter. Winter child.”She laughed again. “Winter, you don’t need to worry about that right now. I think he will have enough sense not to push you into anything. Usually, even if mates do mate right away, there is a period of transition. They still ease into the processes. It’s not something that wham! All of a sudden you’re moved in, having kids, and showering together.” Humming, I watched her wrinkle her nose. “I guess some do. But it&rsqu
