NIKOLAI“I don’t understand! Where the fuck is she?” Tyce’s booming voice echoed down the hallway as I stepped through the front door on Sunday evening, sweat still cooling on my skin after hours spent pushing my body to exhaustion. I walked further into the packhouse and his voice became louder as I proceeded. “We need to get that plane out tonight. I need to go to Anchorage immediately.”I followed the sound of his shouting, rounding the corner, to find a red-faced Tyce with bulging eyes in the common area, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides.Across from him, Beta Liam stood firm, arms crossed, with a calm but unreadable face.“Tyce, it’s not possible,” Liam said with a measured tone, a stark contrast to the storm raging inside the alpha.Tyce’s chest heaved. His nostrils flared. “I don’t care if we crash the fucking plane,” he snarled. “I have to get to her. Do you understand? She’s out there, and we’re just standing here, doing nothing!”Liam’s jaw tightened, but his voi
Author's Note: Several characters in this book are native Russian speakers. To avoid repetitive clarifications throughout the text, assume the following:If a conversation takes place between characters who are native Russian speakers, they are speaking in Russian unless otherwise stated.If a conversation includes one or more native English speakers, it is in English unless otherwise indicated.This approach allows for a more seamless reading experience while maintaining linguistic authenticity.***THERESAHalf-full. Between the two options, that’s the perspective I preferred. It’s not that bad things never happened—I was only mortal after all. But attitude was everything. And a good attitude was particularly important at that very moment as the crushing weight of a sandbag dug into my shoulders, snow crunched under my winter hiking boots, and wind cut at the exposed sliver of skin between my gaiter and hat. I climbed, each step more precarious than the last on the icy slope."Faster
NIKOLAIForty. That's how many pack members were left in Severnaya Zvezda Pack, including me. A nice, even forty. Our pack had never been particularly large. As opposed to some packs in Russia and other post-Soviet states, where numbers could climb to ten thousand, ours had always maintained a balance of around a thousand. Now only scraps remained of what we had been.After months of coordinating with my late beta’s aunt, Julia Tikaani (née Yulia Vovchenko), we had finally arrived at her pack. When we first fled our war-torn home, we traveled in our wolf forms, carrying only what we could carry as we crossed into Moldova. From there, it took nearly three days by air to reach Alaska.We had left just about everything behind, and a sliver of hope remained.As generous as Luna Yulia’s invitation was, we couldn’t depend on her hospitality forever. Our pack needed stability—a place to truly call home. With my newly elected beta, Sasha, at my side—a man as ruthless in battle as I was—I set
NIKOLAI"Za zdarovye," Sasha and I toasted each other, and I took a gulp of the vodka. After piling our kill in a shed the pack had for exactly that, he invited me over to the beta wing of the packhouse to throw back a few."Not bad, eh?" he asked."Not bad," I replied.He gave my shoulder a shake. "Hey, Volkov, loosen up. Life's getting better. We're free now."I grunted.Sasha was my good friend going back to when we were pups. People had always remarked we could pass for brothers. They clearly lacked keen eyes. Sure, we both sported thick blond hair and tall frames—although I had at least a good ten centimeters on him—our facial shapes were much different. His was more rotund, and his cheeks constantly reddened with emotion.My features were far sharper, and hardened, and had become even more so in the past year. At times, I looked in the mirror, and I saw my late father staring back at me. His ghost haunted me from the beyond, shaping my features to mimic the forehead furrows, lif
GINGERMy twin sister Paige finished twisting the last bit of my hair around her curling wand and sprayed it down with hairspray. "I miss this." She let out a deep sigh, sitting back on her heels, her body collapsing a bit. We had gathered on the floor of her bedroom while getting ready for the evening—the bedroom that wouldn’t be hers much longer. She would be the last to flee the coop, leaving our parents to an empty nest—something our mother couldn’t stop being melodramatic about. Her wedding was in a matter of days, which was the reason I had flown back to Vermont with my mate Tyce."It's not that much different from when I was in school," I replied, my stomach squeezing a bit, but needing to put a positive spin on our situation."Yeah, but you were at least home for the entire summer then. Now I'll probably only see you a week a year or something like that."Nonchalantly, I blurted, "Maybe the family can move to Alaska." At first, I meant it as an offhand remark that I knew wasn’
GINGER“Okay, I really thought the people out tonight wouldn’t be so… old,” Lucy said.I sighed but figured I should just make the best of it. Maybe once I got back to Alaska I could meet some friends that knew how to party for real. Not that there were many places to go out in the middle of nowhere where I lived. And it was so strictly conservative too. More so than the pack I’d grown up in, which was saying something.“Here, take these!” Lucy handed Paige and me fake IDs that, as usual, looked nothing like us. She then draped about a pound of penis necklaces on everyone.We all marched in, and everyone’s eyes instantly went to us. Lucy made a beeline for the bar and started ordering us drinks before anyone could protest. I followed her, excited to get my drink on. The bar was playing my favorite Mariah Carey Christmas song, and I was ready to start dancing.After we all had our drinks in hand, an older man with a grey beard asked, “What is this all about? A birthday?”I blinked a few
TYSON‘Twas several nights after the winter solstice (and one night after Christmas) when all through the packhouse, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. And thank the Goddess for that, because we weren’t really big fans of mice around here. At least I wasn’t. Although, I had come to warm up to rats… well, some very specific pet rats. Other than that, still wasn’t a big fan.But you know what I was a fan of? T&A, especially when that T&A was attached to my perfect, voluptuous, thick AF fiancée and mate. My mate that was very conspicuously missing from my bed. I had gotten used to having her warm body next to mine every night, and every inch of my skin was practically tingling with the loss of her. Because her family was very religious, it had been decided that we would stay in separate housing situations during the duration of our trip to her old pack. She at her parents’ home, and I at the packhouse of my ally, the Midnight Maple Pack.I knew she planned to go back to schoo
THERESA The excitement in the air was palpable. The whole pack had gathered on the airplane runway. This was the one part of the pack that was consistently plowed so that we’d continue to receive food and supplies throughout the harsh winters after we gave up on plowing everything else, especially the roads that lead to the main highway. It was how I was able to get back and forth from school during the holidays. Full moon runs were a long-time tradition of our pack’s and one of my favorite celebrations during the long, cold, sunless winters. Even when seasonal depression tried to sink its way into my bones and pull my spirit away, these runs tended to give me the adrenaline I needed to keep going. There was something magical about an entire community coming together to expel all their energy in the wilderness, and then subsequently feast together on the kill we’d contributed to the celebration. My heart was full of gratitude in knowing that no matter how tough things got, this pack
NIKOLAI“I don’t understand! Where the fuck is she?” Tyce’s booming voice echoed down the hallway as I stepped through the front door on Sunday evening, sweat still cooling on my skin after hours spent pushing my body to exhaustion. I walked further into the packhouse and his voice became louder as I proceeded. “We need to get that plane out tonight. I need to go to Anchorage immediately.”I followed the sound of his shouting, rounding the corner, to find a red-faced Tyce with bulging eyes in the common area, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides.Across from him, Beta Liam stood firm, arms crossed, with a calm but unreadable face.“Tyce, it’s not possible,” Liam said with a measured tone, a stark contrast to the storm raging inside the alpha.Tyce’s chest heaved. His nostrils flared. “I don’t care if we crash the fucking plane,” he snarled. “I have to get to her. Do you understand? She’s out there, and we’re just standing here, doing nothing!”Liam’s jaw tightened, but his voi
GINGERShe walked off, joining the line for the bathroom down the hall. I was about to take a seat when Grace appeared beside me.“Hey, can I get you something else to drink?” she asked.“Oh no, I’m good. This is probably my last one,” I replied.“How’s your friend?”“She’s fine. She just went to the bathroom.”“You’re not leaving, are you? We just got here!”“No, no, she wants to stay,” I assured her. “I can introduce you when she gets back.”A man approached us and stood next to Grace. I struggled to remember his name. Bill? Brian? Ben? Something with a B.“Hey, do you wanna?” he asked, tapping his right nostril meaningfully.“Gigi, have you tried it before?” Grace placed her hand on my arm in a friendly gesture.I shook my head.“Oh, you have to. It’s amazing—it makes you feel so good, like you don’t have a care in the world. You’ve gotta try it!”The idea was tempting. I’d missed out on trying coke at my bachelorette party, which I’d always hoped would have been much wilder than i
GINGERBy the time we made it to the party, Terri seemed to be in a much better mood. I felt pleased with the progress I’d made. She was opening up more and actually laughing, a huge contrast to earlier that afternoon.“Let’s go get some drinks!” I exclaimed and led her into the kitchen of the small house we’d come to. They had a huge bowl of jungle juice set out, so I filled our Solo cups with generous pours. We clinked our cups together and made it out to the living room where music was blasting and different students were gathered. I sniffed around, but only humans seemed to be in attendance so far.“How’d you hear about this party?” Terri asked.“It’s kind of funny,” I said. “I met another one of our kind earlier today at school. She gave me her number and said there’d be more of us here tonight.”“Oh,” Terri replied, but didn’t seem as enthusiastic about it as I thought she’d be. “Do you know what pack she was from?”“I couldn’t tell,” I replied. “And she didn’t say.”“It’s usual
MIRIAM*29 years ago*“Are you fucking serious?” Gabe roared, jolting the table from hitting it when he stood. As if that wasn’t enough, he grabbed the solid oak piece of furniture and shook it violently. Plates jumped, glasses tipped, and wine splashed across the tablecloth. I instinctively reached out, trying to steady my own plate while simultaneously scooting back to dodge the onslaught of food missiles. “That’s enough, Gabe!” my father—Alpha Bruce—rose to his full height, his presence radiating fury. “Stop it!” Gabe let out a strangled, guttural noise, his movements freezing abruptly, clearly because he had no other choice. “Look,” Lance interjected, his voice steady despite the chaos, “this wasn’t my choice. Honestly, neither of us wanted this. Out of love and respect for you, Gabe—” “Respect?” Gabe spat, his voice dripping with venom. “Yes, respect,” Lance pressed on, undeterred. “You think I wanted to be mated to the woman my brother loves and plans to marry? Do you think
THERESAI didn’t protest as Gigi rummaged through the sparse contents of my closet and my still-unpacked suitcase. She sifted through my collection of t-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, gym shorts, and an admittedly excessive number of turtlenecks. The truth was, I didn’t really do sexy.“Ooh la la!” Gigi held up a lacy bralette, twirling it around like a prize. Okay, so maybe I did do sexy in one area. I kind of liked the idea of someone being surprised to uncover my underthings after expecting something totally different based on the comfy, casual clothes I regularly wore.I knew I was probably supposed to react to Gigi handling my intimates, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Hey, at least someone other than me was seeing them.She laid various options out on my bed, pausing to step back and rub her chin, deep in thought. Then, she’d dart back to my closet or suitcase, dig around some more, swapping out different pieces. I sighed, too lost in my own thoughts to be of much help. B
GINGER I finally found the exit and stepped outside into the cold, crisp air, inhaling the scent of winter, pine trees, and Alaskan wilderness, something that was far more abundant down here than up where I’d been living. The off-campus housing Tyce, or someone else in the pack, had found for Terri and me was practically next door to campus, making the walk home fairly easy. While the cold would have certainly bothered me before I’d gotten my wolf back, since turning full wolfy, I’d discovered extreme cold didn’t register the same way anymore. Heat, on the other hand, was a different story. While I hadn’t experienced it firsthand yet, I’d heard trips down south were sweaty, miserable getaways. Thankfully, Hawaii’s weather seemed to be fairly moderate, so my dream of a tropical island honeymoon—where Tyce and I spent the entire time fucking with the ocean as our backdrop—hadn’t been crushed. We planned to leave the morning after the wedding and take advantage of my spring break to wr
GINGERDuring my first week of school, I was surprised to find I didn’t miss Tyce as much as I would have expected. Sure, there were moments when a random ache would settle in my chest and I’d long for his presence. Nights felt lonelier. My sleep was lighter and more restless than it had been before I left. Mornings sucked. I’d wake up disoriented, half-expecting his scent to linger, only for the realization to settle like a weight in my chest. The bed felt colder, too big. I’d reach out instinctively, expecting his warmth, only to be greeted by empty sheets. But I kept moving forward.My full courseload kept me too busy to dwell on much outside of school. Between Intro to Organic and Biochemistry, Human Anatomy and Physiology, Chemistry, and Ethics, I barely had a moment to breathe, let alone think beyond my assignments, exams, and endless notes. By the end of the first week, I was already drowning in homework, my was planner overflowing, and my nights were consumed by studying.It d
THERESA“That's how he is now,” Gigi chimed in, rolling her eyes dramatically. “Ever since he started taking his alpha duties seriously. He does the same thing to me. ‘Gigi, do you have enough food? Is the room warm enough? Do you need more blankets? Do the rats need anything?’ He’s such a dad now!” “Hey! Hey!” He protested. “That’s ‘Daddy’ to you!”“Yes, Daddy,” Gigi responded with a dramatic, teasing whine.Tyce leaned back, his voice dropping an octave as a smirk spread across his face. “Fuck! That just did something to me. Say that again, baby.”“Da…ddy,” Gigi purred, dragging the word out with a wicked grin.“Oh my gosh! Can you guys not do this in front of me!” I complained, taking a stab at normalcy. Acting how I would have if I wasn’t crumbling. It felt like I was putting on a performance, playing the part of someone who wasn’t dying on the inside. What I really wanted to do was curl up under a huge blanket and cry until there was nothing left inside me.After we landed, Tyc
THERESAI was a zombie when I made it to the runway that morning. I had barely slept the night before, and when I woke, my pillow was still damp with tears. I couldn’t even remember how I’d made it through the full moon run and then home after. I must have just gone through the motions, my body moving while my mind drifted somewhere else entirely.Earlier, as we prepared to leave, I walked past Kolya’s room. I paused outside his door, my hand hovering over the handle, my heart pounding against my ribs. But the silence on the other side was deafening. The room was empty. He was gone. Just like that. The air inside my lungs turned heavy, pressing down on me, stealing my breath. I hadn't even said goodbye.After stowing my bags in the cargo hold, I climbed aboard the pack’s bush plane and sank into one of the narrow seats. I pulled off my mittens. Everything about me felt raw—my body, my hands, my heart. Hours of crying would do that, I supposed.I rummaged through my backpack, finally l