JASMINE It started as a normal Saturday. I woke up early and, once again, felt lost and alone without Blake next to me, his side of the bed far too cold and empty. Ever since we'd marked each other, being apart felt unnatural and wrong. We were so bound together now that, without him, I felt like half of a whole. I understood, logically, why he wouldn't let me go back up north with him, but my entire being longed for him. After getting dressed, I made my way downstairs for breakfast. But as soon as my foot stepped off the bottom step onto the main floor, I hunched over, the sensation of claws slicing through my skin overtaking me. I cried out, grabbing the stair railing so I wouldn't fall over, tears tumbling from my eyes. And I knew—Blake was hurt. His intense pain was being transferred to me. It pulsed through me again and I let out another cry. "Jasmine!" Luke came running down the stairs, helping me up. "It's Blake. Blake's hurt," I cried out as Luke helped walk me to the couc
BLAKE I groaned as I forced my heavy lids open, fluorescent lights above me, a small bed below me. I shifted, but that was a bad idea. My whole body was still sore, the blood pumping through my veins still scorching me. It somehow felt heavy as I breathed, as if something was blocking the air's passage. I gave a cough and blood trickled out of my mouth and onto my chin. Fuck! "Hey, you okay, bro?" A familiar voice said next to me, more raspy than usual, probably also in pain. I wiped at my chin, the red of the blood staining my arm. "I think so," I replied, turning my head to look at him, and familiar amber eyes stared back at me—Jasmine's beautiful eyes. But it wasn't her, although I desperately missed her and would have given anything for those brilliant amber eyes to have been hers. "Goddess, this wolfsbane shit blows," Tyce groaned out. "Yeah," I agreed, barely able to move because of it, thinking that all that suffering for all those years at Grey Wolf University and
JASMINE Once Luke was finally able to get in touch with one of the warriors, he came back. "Is there news?" I asked him, desperate with worry. "Do they know what happened to him?" "They're finding out and will get back to me. Jasmine, try not to worry," Luke sat down next to me on the couch. "How can I not worry?" "I know." He let out a sigh. "But you'd know if he were dead. Trust me, Jasmine. The fact that he's no longer feeling pain and you haven't sensed him losing his life, it means he's okay." "Okay," I let my voice trail, unconvinced, putting my hand on my belly for comfort. "Jasmine, you should to go to the clinic," Luke suddenly blurted out. "I mean, all that stress. It can't be good for…" his voice trailed. "You know?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him. He looked down at the floor. "Yeah, Blake told me before he left." Then he looked toward my stomach and added, "Plus, you're kind of starting to show." I had mostly been sticking to baggy t-shirts lately, but that d
TYSONAfter my body was able to metabolize all the wolfsbane and finally heal properly, my brother and I started planning the memorial service we'd have to hold later that week. The final count for our pack was ten dead, which was a very good number considering, especially since we had never trained for battle with wolfsbane. The experience still traumatized me, and I was determined to follow through on my dedication to becoming tolerant. No more fucking around. Practically dying out on that battlefield was a huge wake-up call.The Wednesday following the battle, after all our warriors had a chance to recover, we boarded the chartered flight back to Alaska. A part of me was desperate to get back to Vermont and see Gigi again, but as alpha I knew it was my duty to visit all the families of the fallen warriors and give my condolences. Considering it was my idea to fight this battle, I knew it would be wrong to expect my dad and grandpa, or even my beta or gamma, to do that. No, it was t
GINGER My heart pounded in my chest as I read Tyce's DM to me over and over again. I kept wondering what it meant. I mean, duh, I knew what it meant. But what did it really mean? Was he just looking to fuck me or did he maybe want something more? Why did I do this to myself? Reading his message, it was clear as day he was only looking for one thing. But still, sometimes it just seemed… No, I had to stop over-analyzing. Plus, either way, it was going to end in disaster. While I would probably never have the opportunity to meet mine, Tyce had a mate out there, and he was going to eventually meet her. And if there was one thing that was very clear—getting involved with Tyce was going to get me hurt. He was not the type of guy you called a 'fuckboy' and just moved on from. No, he was the type of guy that could give you four orgasms in a matter of minutes, and, yes, could most likely literally make It so you couldn't walk straight for a week. I let out a deep breath and threw my phone a
TYSON Thankfully, it was just my dad this time. He was at least semi-rational. My grandfather, on the other hand, was a total nutcase. My dad was giving me an intense stare, his forearms flat on his desk, fingers intertwined. "So, care to explain why you had Trav load up a good chunk of our warriors and send them to the east coast for a battle that had nothing to do with us?" "I'm the alpha. I'm allowed to make decisions for the pack now. Technically, I don't have to run it by anyone." He let out a deep sigh. "Yes, but battles are a huge cost to our pack. We can't be making rash decisions." "Why do you assume the decision was rash?" I cut my dad off. "Tyce," he said in a very patronizing way. "What else am I supposed to assume when you don't even discuss this with your grandfather and me? We're the ones that have been running this pack while you're off fooling around with your porky skanks." "Don't call them that!" I bellowed, clenching my hands into fists. I'd always let my fa
JASMINE Tears welled up in my eyes from happiness as Blake stepped into the packhouse. I ran and jumped into his arms, wrapping my legs tightly around his body, attacking his mouth with mine. "Blake, I thought I lost you. I honestly thought I lost you." Tears ran down my cheeks as I choked out words between my kisses. I shoved my tongue into his mouth, wanting to taste him again desperately. "I'm still here, Misses Alpha," Blake whispered between kisses. "I'm home now. You don't have to worry anymore." He carried me up the stairs until we were in our bedroom, and he lowered me gently onto the bed. He crawled in and hovered over me, his piercing blue eyes staring into mine. I slid my hands under his shirt, feeling every groove of his well-defined torso, memorizing the structure of how each muscle felt under my fingertips. I moved my hands up his body, easing his shirt off him, wanting desperately to feel his whole naked body against mine, to reunite with him. "Well, this is a nice w
JASMINE The service was held the next day. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find an appropriate dress to wear that would disguise my belly bump. In the end, Lucy came through and let me borrow one of her pregnancy dresses. I could sense that she was finally coming around and getting over the whole Luke debacle. "Can you tell?" I kept asking Blake. He was probably super annoyed with me after being asked the same thing for the hundredth time that day. But I was in anxiety overdrive. My parents still didn't know, and we had to tell them before other people started noticing. "Jaz, don't worry," Blake pulled me against his body. "It's a memorial service. No one's going to even be looking at you." He then pulled away, looked down, and shook his head. "That thing is like a potato sack and I hate it. Can't a man that almost died at least get a chance to admire his mate's fine ass?" He smirked. "I can't even believe Lucy owns something so frumpy." "Blake," I pushed on his che
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 pac
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 school
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
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’t
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, life
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 o
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
TRIGGER WARNING: This final scene contains torture and is not recommended to the squeamish. It is not necessary to the plot of the book and was only added to give readers some satisfaction with tying up some loose ends. --- TYSON I picked up my ringing phone. "Sara caught the culprits," Trav said, not even bothering to say hello. "Damn," I replied. "She's already tortured them, but offered to let you finish them off. You know, for pack alliance reasons." "I have a feeling that allowing someone else to do the final deed is a gift of generosity in her eyes." I chuckled to myself. Trav's mate was something else. But I'd be damned if I didn't want to watch the motherfuckers that killed my grandfather take their final breaths. Before I hung up, I asked, "Can I bring Dad?" "Obviously that's still a bit of a touchy subject but…" his voice trailed. "But you know that Dad, more than anyone, would want to be the one that does it." I finished his sentence for him. Trav let out a breath.
*Three weeks later* GINGER "Goddess, it's been such a long week!" I flopped onto the bed after showering and throwing on some sweats on a Saturday night in late October. "Your alpha schedule is no joke," I griped to Tyce. "I'm ready to go to bed now." "Do you think you could stay awake for a little bit longer?" He came over and sat on the bed. "Because I have a surprise that just came today." "A surprise? Have I been so busy that I didn't even realize it's my birthday already?" I joked. "It's a 'just because' kind of surprise." "Goddess, stop, Tyce. I can't do all this sweetness. I need a dentist! I think I'm getting cavities." "Okay, the surprise isn't really for you. It's for Splinter anyway. Are you ready for me to bring it in?" "Well, if it's not for me, you should ask Splinter," I teased. "Splinter already said he's ready." "Okay, rat whisperer." Tyce gave me a cute little smile that made my stomach flip-flop. Fuck, why did he affect me so much? Even though we'd now bee