Emergency care was fast and rough and left little room for complaint. Of course, Alexa had been half-conscious during this process, siding more toward the delirious side of reality rather than sanity. The medical staff in the small little hospital were not well equipped for such a trying case, injured hikers sure, severe cases of frostbite definitely, but a half-deranged, violent eighteen-year-old dead set on maiming the staff and severely injured on the brink of death not exactly. They had made petitions to the family to move her to a bigger hospital in one of the nearest cities but one look from their resident doctor had them shutting down that idea very quickly. She looked so peaceful now lying amongst the stark white sheets completely still in her slumber. All signs of her outburst long gone as she had been sedated for not only her safety but the staff’s as well. If it weren’t for the slight rise and fall of her chest and that annoying beeping from the monitor, he would have th
Two umber-colored eyes leered at the mother and son duo as they paced back and forth from behind darkly tinted windows. The sleek pickup truck’s engine rumbled to a halt a little ways away from the one-story brick building the town called a sheriff’s station. Irritation was evident on the man’s pale face as he sneered at the two in front of him. Julian had been following the Winters family for two and a half weeks now and with each day his ire only grew. Could they really be so incompetent in their task to find a single teenage girl? All these fools living in this backwater town exhibited no sense of urgency or intelligence in their hurry to find the girl. Raymond had been getting underfoot as of late and had met the wrong end of both his brother’s wrath and his fist. Now the simpleton was recuperating from his failure to reinsert himself into that girl Jayden’s life. Because of this, he was even more useless than he normally would have been. Pale fingers drummed against the leathe
Beeping, loud, and high-pitched beeping disturbed Alexa from a deep unconscious state. The sound came and went at an annoyingly constant rhythm that had her pulling her brows together. ‘Would someone just shut that off!’ She thought vexed. She curled her fingertips into the palm of her hand and was met with two different textures. On her right hand, she could feel a scratchy but soft material, and on her left, she came into contact with something hard and rough and it felt like it was compressing not only her hand but half her arm as well. She felt her lips pull into a frown and the action had her hissing through her teeth when it pulled at a tender spot in her mouth. The teenager felt extremely uncomfortable in her unknown surroundings and was having a difficult time peeling her eyelids open. Slowly and with great effort Alexa was able to open her eyes, only to want to shut them almost immediately as the colorless white walls reflected a blinding, painful light into her unadjusted
Charlene and Jessabelle walked around the large dining room with porcelain plates held firmly in their grasp. They wandered on opposite sides of the vast mahogany table that stood proudly in the center of the wide room. The crystal chandelier above their heads caused the dinnerware to gleam in the bright light. The room was tense and silent as the two females placed the dinnerware in their hands onto the sleek table, behind them Griffon and Aiden were placing silver utensils and crystal wine glasses and so the four of them set the dinner table. Other pack members hurried in and out of the room as the chefs in the kitchen cooked up the feast their Beta had requested at Charlene's behest. The leader of the pack had been annoyed when she stormed into his office, he had been very busy nursing the headache his disobedient son had caused. The man tried to dismiss the older woman after he had recovered from his shock at her presence, but Charlene was having none of it. She had walked arou
Four hours had passed since her crazy doctor had waltzed into the room like a druggie on shrooms and Alexa had been staring at her cast for two of them. Or perhaps glaring was the right word to use. Alexa willed her arm to stop its incessant itching as if her cold stare would frighten the itch away, or until it was magically scratched with nothing but her mental willpower. She had refused to allow the blond nurse back into her room and had kicked up quite the fuss when she had walked into the room with another syringe. Luckily Connie had been right behind her and had chased her colleague from the room at the redhead’s insistence that should that syringe come anywhere near her she would break the railing free from the bed frame and beat the poor nurse with it. “It’s not nice to threaten people,” Connie had said to her, with her hands on her hips as she attempted to be stern, but the smile on her lips detracted from her intended tone. “It’s not nice to drug them either,” came the tee
Aaron Black sat in the large black leather chair behind his dark wooden desk with his head being cradled between his hands. His son, Aiden, sat in the leather chair on the other side of the desk with a grim expression on his face. Aaron was still fighting a migraine as he tried to soak in all that he had learned in the short amount of time he and his son had conversed. “You couldn’t have chosen a simpler mate, could you?” he rubbed his hands across his face before sitting back and looking at the young man before him. Why did things have to be so complicated? “It’s not like I had a choice, Dad,” Aiden replied, his back was stiff in that leather chair. “And you are certain that Griffon saw Luna Jean?” His son’s mate just had to be the daughter of their leader; Aaron sighed. “Yes,” “Very well. The road from here on out will be a difficult one,” he stood from his seat behind his desk and stalked over to the cabinet where amber liquor sat glinting in a glass decanter, begging for him
Alexa was having trouble adapting to her stay in the hospital, she was constantly tossing and turning on the small bed, contorting her bandaged right foot and cast-covered left hand in odd angles trying to find comfort. She had only been conscious for a day and already the white of the walls that surrounded her, and the constant smell of detergent were driving her completely insane. She had only found reprieve from her sanity-destroying boredom when her family was beside her. She glanced over to the chair in the corner and smiled softly at her twin who had contorted himself in the plastic leather armchair, fast asleep. Beside him was an overnight cot, which housed both her cousin and sister. Wrapped in each other’s arms, Jayden had squished herself against the infuriatingly white wall to prevent herself from toppling over the small cot’s edge or from crushing the tiny person sharing her space. Love filled Alexa’s heart as she gazed adoringly at her family, her mother had drifted of
After his little excursion in the shower, Aiden made quick work of washing himself and jumping out of the hot spray. He wrapped a grey towel around his waist and padded with soaking feet back into his room toward his wardrobe. He pulled a black shirt and a pair of jeans from his closet, along with a clean pair of underwear which he hastily pulled on. Just as he buttoned his blue jeans a knock resonated from his door. Without thinking Aiden called out to whomever was on the other side of the door allowing them to enter his room. Griffon strode in comfortably but stopped three paces into the room. He took a deep breath in, and his head shot towards the bathroom door with an alarmed look in his eyes. Aiden, whose back had been turned to his guest, heard the startled gasp and spun around to stare at his best friend. It took him a moment to realize why the man had such a dumbfounded look on his face. “It’s not what you think!” He rapidly shouted, embarrassment blooming in his chest. “
** Warning: Graphic mentions of violence and torture, mentions of rape, and graphic sexual content **Far away from the damaged Burrough across many, many acres of land, over hills and mountains, across rivers and streams, nestled in an open valley welcomed by a glistening silver lake and flanked by white-toothed mountains stood a tall ivory castle, lit up by the silver beams of the moon.The surrounding land was peaceful and the night quiet for all weary travelers wandering through the nearby forests, but it was anything but peaceful within the ivory walls, for what was once a beautiful shrine to the moon goddess was now possessed by a much darker, more sinister entity.For on a marble throne adorned with the skulls of his enemies sat the hulking figure of something more beast than man. His heavily scarred features could strike fear in all who gazed upon him as he relaxed back in his stolen seat, the once polished marble now permanently stained crimson from all the bloodshed during h
“NO!” Jean cried out, the sound grating against the sides of her throat as Aiden’s glistening, sharp fangs sunk into the tender flesh of her daughter’s neck. With a burst of power, she ripped the werewolf from her child and unceremoniously tossed him across the room, a common theme today it seemed, not particularly concerned about the grandfather clock he shattered along the way. “What have you done?!” she cried, pulling Alexa into her arms as the once thrashing girl stilled, almost as if she had died. “We just said that it could kill her! How could you be so stupid?!” Jayden angrily yelled. “I couldn’t just sit here and watch her die, I had to do something!” he sat up, wiping the blood from his lips as his fangs receded and his eyes changed back to green. “You don’t get to decide that mutt!” Isaac rebuffed, now coming face to face with the shifter, chest puffed out in anger and a defiant look raging in his glimmering green eyes. “She’s my mate,” “That means nothing if she’s dea
Alexa thrashed on the forest floor in an uncontrollable manner, her body spasming horrifically in the now-destroyed sanctuary. She was clawing at her own skin as she attempted to dig out the fire spreading through her veins, nails digging into the bite on her neck. Alexa screamed as if she were being tortured from the inside out as the vampire venom disseminated through every fiber of her being. Oh God, it hurt, it hurt so bad! She was burning up from the inside. Make it stop! She pleaded silently as nothing but screams ripped through her throat. Aiden rushed to her side, almost keeling over himself as her pain burst through their soul bond uninhibited feeling like a raging ocean was trying to overwhelm him and pull him under with its intensity. Desperation bloomed in his chest as he reached out to the seizing girl and pulled her into his arms. Alexa screamed and cried out at the feel of his hands on her skin, she tried to jerk out of his arms, but he only held on tighter. “Alexa,
Spinning around Alexa came face to face with the object of her nightmares. The sight of his blood-red eyes leering at her in a bestial manner as if he were the hunter and she his prey, which she considered to be exactly the situation she was in. The cold grin that stretched across his deathly pale face sent shivers down her spine and she felt her skin break out into goosebumps. With her heart hammering in her chest, she stared back into the gleaming crimson orbs and told herself that she was not the same girl he had broken nine months ago. “Julian,” His grin spread impossibly wider, and he let out a pleased hum, stalking toward her until he stood directly before her. “Good girl, you still remember me,” he reached out with his icy fingers, reaching out he pulled at a strand of her luscious red curls, bringing it up to his nose where he took a long deep breath and almost purred as he scented her. “Your hair is longer, what a pity,” he let the silky locks slip from his fingers as he
“What?” “Dream walking. It’s when you fall into a hypnotized-like trance,” “What could cause such a thing?” “Honestly I don’t know, I’ve never seen anyone do it before,” “But you’re over a hundred years old!” “That doesn’t mean I know everything you disrespectful child!” Jean snapped at her son, angered by his need to remind her of her many years on this earth. “There must be something we can do, anything you might know Aunt Jean,” Jayden replied warily, staring at the redhead’s back in concern. “There’s a myth that dream walking is the result of a deity calling you to them, if that’s the case then it’s no wonder I’ve never seen it before,” Jean massaged her temple, willing the migraine creeping its way into her brain to disappear. “Why?” “Our Gods rarely ever interact with us directly, to summon one of us means that something of great importance is needed, and the fact that they waited for the solar eclipse to do it is even more peculiar,” “So what? Let’s snap her out of it,
With his wolf-enhanced reflexes, Aiden quickly stabilized Alexa as the earth violently shifted beneath their feet. Glass décor shattered in a thunderous roar as it fell from the countertops in their room. A mutual look of concern passed between them, for they both knew that the unforeseen force behind the tremors was anything but natural. Not when it was accompanied by the shrill panic-stricken screams of their pack mates. ‘Their?’ the thought startled Alexa unsure as to when she had started thinking of this wolf pack as hers. With a shake of her head, she quickly banished the thought as quickly as it had struck her. Now was obviously not the time to dwell on such frivolous concerns. Instead, she focused on the strong hands that were securely wrapped around her upper arms. These large appendages were the only thing keeping her upright as the unnatural quake died down, but the sounds from outside did not follow suit. Without so much as a sound between them, they both dashed out the
Ten months he had waited, ten grueling months he had trained and plotted his revenge. Ten long agonizingly boring months he had nurtured the ego of a foul-smelling dog and her pitiful desire to rule over her pack of wild mutts. For nearly a year he had been plagued by an unquenchable thirst and the need to claim his revenge. It was almost as if he were hyper-focused on those two fixed points in his life. And although he learned to control his new state of being surprisingly quickly that hyper-focus could lead to his own downfall. Not that the man himself noticed too fixated on enacting his revenge too much to think about anything else, much less what he would do once he had it. Shaun, who had trained the new vampire on the wishes of his mistress could see the crazed gleam in the man’s undead gaze and wondered not for the first time what his mistress had seen in the newborn. His mistress, Amara, had never been the kind to explain the reasons behind her actions and Shaun had learned
“You don’t know,” Alexa’s eyes welled up with tears threatening to fall, her bare feet burning unprotected from the blistering cold. Aiden looked at her with an unreadable expression, one that not even she, who had learned to see the emotion behind his eyes could decipher. “I don’t know where I’m going, I wake up in a different place each time,” “Each time? How long has this been happening?” The flash of anger through their bond was enough to ground Alexa’s shaky thoughts, and she clung onto it as if it were a buoy floating in the middle of a raging sea and she was caught up in the tumultuous waves. Alexa was at a loss for words as they stared at one another. His anger was clear in his eyes. How could she tell him that she was scared, drawn in by an unknown force that called out to her even in her waking hours? “How long, Alexa?” he asked again, with more force behind his words. “A few months,” She let out a tired sigh. “A few months?!” the shock and the anger swirled within, f
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Spring bloomed, chasing away the winter chill, Summer burned hot that year until finally autumn leaves began to fall and the wind turned cold once more. It was funny how quickly Alexa became accustomed to living among the pack. No longer did she feel out of place as if she stuck out like a sore thumb. Eventually, many of the pack members warmed up to her presence and began accepting her not only as Aiden’s mate but as their future Alpha too. Her only problem being her unwanted run-ins with Vanessa, who was dead set on causing her as much grief as possible. Still opposed to both ideas she had learned to keep her thoughts to herself as many of the wolves couldn’t understand her opposition having been raised in pack life where all this was just another ordinary day to them. Even the few humans who had not been raised within the pack and who had had time to acclimate didn’t understand her firm stand against being labeled Aiden’s mate