For the third time in the past twenty-four hours, Alexa found herself being led through the halls of the large mansion, only this time they were lit by the morning bursts of sunlight. As they walked along wooden floors her gaze drank in the villa-like style that she had not noticed the night before. It looked as if the manor was frozen in time with all the original furnishings and décor still beautifully preserved and intact. The intricacy of the detail put into every piece of furniture pulled at her. Feeling her curiosity Aiden slowed his brisk pace to allow her the opportunity to see his home, which was once her father’s and would now hopefully be hers. Crystal blue eyes swept over the décor and filled with appreciation when allowing the beauty of the mansion to sink in. She could tell there was a rich history etched into the gorgeous ashen stone walls they passed, and she was almost eager to hear it. Her curiosity encroached upon her mental defenses forcing her to take an intere
Alexa stared at her with a blank expression, was that supposed to mean something to her? The woman had introduced herself as if she were a hot celebrity, but all the redhead saw was a stuck nose with big boobs. Vanessa had been waiting eagerly all morning for the first sign of the future Beta. Rumors had been spreading amongst the pack that their Luna had returned and with them her children. She’d listened to the gossip about how smitten her Aiden had become with their Luna’s daughter and speculations were made that the girl was his mate. Of course, Vanessa shut this rumor down swiftly. How could she become the next Beta’s mate when there’s gossip going about that he’d found his mate? Everyone already knew they weren’t mates; it had been the topic of gossip for weeks after her first shift. Even so, Vanessa was determined to mate with him despite not being his true mate. She’d even go as far as rejecting her own true mate should he ever have the nerve to show his face to her. There
Ignominy had a bitter sting when it was paired with a wounded pride, and it radiated within her. The pungent taste left behind had a distinct acidic quality that burned in her throat. And although the physical wound had quickly mended, Vanessa found herself still nursing her bruised ego. Humiliation and disbelief were her new companions. Both churlish in body and spirit the disesteemed woman soon found herself seeking vindication amongst her peers and the humans whom she so despised. Along with this newfound need to seek reclamation Vanessa was overwhelmed with a need to leave the Burrow. The bar she soon found herself in was far beneath someone of her caliber, but she was itching to justify what she deemed as mistreatment by the werewolf she desired. Simmering over the humiliation and masking its ever-present bitterness lay the boiling rage that she directed toward the pathetic humans of a nearby town. The Native American woman found an odd sense of comfort in having human males tr
Time is a funny thing, she always thought, everyone always wanted more. And the more one wants the less one seemed to get. Plagued by the concept of time people find themselves enslaved by the ticking hands of a clock. Time waited for no one and did not conform to the ideas of others. The faster one wanted time to tick the slower the hands seemed to jump from one second to the next. For Alexa, the gears in the clock that haunted her seemed to have sped up instead of slowed down. In what seemed to be a blink of an eye she soon went from being infuriated with Aiden to somehow finding herself trapped in between his tanned and muscular arms. The redhead was confounded by the day’s events and could not for the life of her, figure out how she had once again ended up with his arms wrapped around her. Wasn’t she still mad at him for his behavior earlier that day? But laying there with her back flush against his chest while his soft breath tickled the back of her neck, she felt nothing but
Although said in utter adoration the word held nothing but fear and darkness for the frazzled redhead. Instead of Aiden’s deep voice, she heard a different man altogether. Except this man did not say the word in reverence instead he said it sinisterly covetous manner. The word bounced around her head like a piece of shrapnel as her world imploded all around her all over again. Her heart stuttered and nearly stopped when her mind was sent reeling back to that harrowing night. The face of her tormentor flashed behind her closed eyelids and sent her into a near state of panic. The hysteria flashed from her and into Aiden through their bond and had him lurching from her body in his own panic as if he had been doused with a bucket of ice-cold water. In his haste to back away from her trembling form he all but topples off of the bed. And lost in her terror Alexa thrashed around on the bed to loosen her legs from the bed sheets. “What? What is it?” he questioned, seeking the great terribl
She took a shuddering breath, and steeled herself for what she said next, “And when you did it too, I don’t know it sent me back to that night” He didn’t know what to say to her in return, a bitter taste left in his mouth at the mere thought that he had resembled that good-for-nothing piece of trash. As they sat facing each other in utter silence the sun rose to greet a very somber atmosphere that hung so heavily it could have choked any who wandered into it. The air hung thick with a nauseating mixture of guilt, shame, and a touch of anger. The room’s two occupants turned to face the symbol of the Sun God in all its glory, but no words escaped from clenched lips. The silence was almost deafening to the young teenage girl, and she longed to break it as her discomfort grew. She could feel his anger, his hatred, and his guilt. It was pouring in through that open pathway like a tidal wave until she was almost drowning in it. Knowing that she had been the cause of his dark emotions fil
Home, what a strange and unfamiliar concept to one who had been without one for so long. What was it that made a place a home? Was it the place itself or the people that lived there? Going back home was one of the many surreal moments that the redheaded teenager experienced in such a short amount of time, almost as if she were in a dream. It had been ages since she had left the beautiful house behind for what was supposed to be a fun family trip. Now instead of the unburdened teenage girl who believed her life complete another had taken her place. As she got ready to return to a home she had long since left behind, she returned as a different person where everything around and within her had changed. Alexa had been irrevocably changed and there was nothing she could do about it. The helplessness she felt as the world as she knew it warped into something unrecognizable left a bitter taste in her mouth and a feeling of dread in her heart. No longer was she the strong, carefree human
Her fear immediately alerted the sulking werewolf to her distress. And even though she had told him to stay put he found his feet carrying him toward the front door. As Aiden rushed into the home of his mate and her family he narrowly avoided running into Isaac. “Hey! Watch it!” The male witch cried out as he jumped away from the alerted wolf. Aiden paid him no mind and instead went on the defensive, searching for signs of danger. He found none on the bottom floor and was quick to make his way to the stairs where he heard Luna Jean and her youngest child moving around, unconcerned by a danger they did not know existed. Thundering footsteps echoed and reverberated around her as she stood frozen just inside her doorway. Although no sound had escaped her, he had still known that she needed him just by the fear leaking through their bond like the acid that churned its way bitterly around her stomach, threatening to make its way viciously up her throat, which already felt as if a frog h