I relax as I feel my son relax against me, transforming from the powerfully protective alpha to my little boy. "Okay Mama," he closes his eyes, nuzzling into the crook of my arm, releasing the witches and wolves under his power. "We can get the other ones later."The sound of bodies slamming against the floor slowly stops as each body affected by his powers grows still. Nobody says anything, not wanting to be the one to break the calm of the moment. What we all just witnessed is terrifying on so many levels. Bash's abilities are far more expansive than even I had known. I have never seen him control the minds of so many people at once. I've been with him his entire life and watched him grow and learn, and I had no idea he had this in him. I can only imagine how terrifying it must be to people who aren't his mother. I will always love him. He is my baby. But they have no reason to trust him. Because what they saw wasn't the act of a child. It was the act of a potential monster. Th

[Ashlynd]As soon as I came home I scrubbed my body. But that wasn't enough, not nearly enough. I needed to feel Slate inside of me, his seed washing away the tainted feeling of the Grand Warlock's hands from my body.I was asleep, safely curled in Slate's arm when I heard the doorbell. It is dark, not quite dawn when I creep down the stairs to answer. I wasn't expecting to see one of the many sisters in blue standing on my stoop. She looked elegant and polished, as all coven witches do, her blonde hair cascading over one shoulder as she leaned forward to hand me a note and a white taper candle."Mistress Witch," she curtsies recognizing my new status as the Warlock's official concubine, before disappearing into the darkness. The note says that he has a surprise for me. Something for the spell and my wedding as well. I look up and think of Slate sleeping in the room above me. I hate to leave him. Not only because I want to stay by his side, but because I cannot trust him to stay wh

[Hyacinth]I can smell my mate wrapped around me. His warmth and his love cover me with his gentle scent and in this moment I feel whole and safe. "Wake up, Hyacinth," he whispers in my ear. "Our son needs you."I feel a quick flash to my chest as if receiving an electric shock that moves from my toes to my head in a wave, only to leave me feeling drained and weak. "Now! Hyacinth! Save our boy!"______I startle awake. I have slept in so many different beds in the last week that it is no surprise that I am in yet another one. But where am I? And why does it smell like Slate?Then I remember. Our little group took back the packhouse last night and then Bash and I went to bed after battling against the witches who had kept Drew captive. Both Bash and I were so exhausted that we were encouraged to go to bed straight away. Drew tucked us into the Alpha suite, a room that is now by rights mine as well, as Slate's Luna. So that is how we got here. But why would I have such a strange dream

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter includes scenes of abuse and attempted suicide. Read at your discretion. [Ashlynd]The Grand Warlock insisted that, as his new bride, I would be kept at his estate until the wedding begins. His estate, of course, is the Monrovia Estate, which my mother graciously handed to him after forcing her husband to live in the "pen" with the other "animals." For a woman who seemed so devoted to him only days ago, she has quickly bowed down to the will of the Warlock, not caring about any of her previous ties. She gladly accepted a position as one of his coven witches, donning her blue dress and smiling with the rest of them as they burned down the packhouse. "She wasn't there," My mother was angry as she opened the front door, throwing down her things and bowing at the feet of the Grand Warlock. "After the report of the attack at the prison, we were sure that she had gone there to rescue that Moon Wolf," she spat, refusing to call Drew by his name. "But when we

[Hyacinth]As the witches began searching for us again, we realized that it wasn't safe for us to stay on the surface. While we were camped out in the temple, the clinic was lost as the witches had taken it over as their new home base. Unfortunately, that means that the wolves that were too sick to be moved are now surviving at the mercy of those witches. After encountering the carnage in the basement of the packhouse, none of us have faith that any of those patients will survive the day if we cannot change our situation this morning. Thankfully the tunnels are expansive. We can all fit inside if we stretch ourselves out between locations. Unfortunately, none of the juncture points are large enough for any of us to stand in a cluster bigger than 10, which means giving instructions for the next phase of our plan feels a bit like playing telephone, where the message is changed and garbled by the time it reaches the person on the other end.Even with all of our challenges, we have come