“Shit, the weather look,” she whispers, lifting her head up from my bare chest. From our cosy tower room, we can see wind is starting to howl, hail pelting the glass. The first savage winter snowstorms have begun.“It’s time to start prepping,” I grunt with disappointment, sitting up to get a better look. My beautifully naked angel sits in between my legs, allowing me to start nuzzling my chin against her neck. Her hand absentmindedly trails up and runs through my dark hair, keeping me close to her. “We’ll be underground for the first moon,” I add, which is the only thought that makes the idea of humping all those supplies down below bearable.“Hmm, you might be right. Let’s see how it goes,” she whispers back in a soft little voice before turning to plant a loving kiss on my grizzled cheek. “Better get dressed,” she groaned before pushing me down back onto the mattress and climbing on top of me. My fingertips brushed against her still red, warm asscheek and she jumped at the sensat
**FOUR YEARS LATER** I don’t know how time flew by so quickly. Everything Cal promised me has come true. We have bickered, disagreed, and walked down the beach in a huff. Mainly me each time, knowing he would be sat on the porch waiting for me with an amused smile. That lopsided grin that makes my stomach flip. We never stopped fighting for each other. Not for a second. It's been everything and more. That first morning, dozing in the hammock together, I woke up with a start. Realising the time, how late I was for retrieving poor Button made me scramble and swing so violently he crashed to the floor all over again. “You know I might ban you from my lovely hammock,” he groaned. I just laughed and pulled him up, pretending to rub his muscular shoulders, back, chest better until he growled and finally bent me over that porch. It was perfect. Of course, Button was absolutely fine with Declan and Lyra. They were already playing on the beach with her, Declan, having his toes burie
If it wasn’t for the three women I lived with and little Opal I’d have lost my mind. Delilah hadn't changed from our blessed childhood friendship. Morgan’s mate Nell was full of bizarre ideas for preserving food and practising emergency drills. Lyra remained stoic and calm. Our lighthouse of sense and hope. Opal cried for her Daddy, and I had to try not to join in with her. I had to promise her he would come back, based on nothing but pure, desperate hope. It turned into full-scale war out there. The various Rogue armies were enormous, but they never quite made it to Filney. We were prepared, though. Thanks to Nell, we each had a gun safely stored by the bed. Escape routes planned. Little Opal still slept with me, keeping her close to my heart. Finally, one day, they returned. Trucks pulling in to Lyras white walled villa woke us up. One by one, we all screamed with excitement. Cal didn’t even try to trick or provoke me. He just pulled up the truck and sprinted towards us.
The last twenty years have been a rollercoaster, to say the least. That night in the hail, when Cyrus pulled me back from the brink and I spilt every single woe from the bottom of my soul to him, was the turning point. Since the triplets' birth, I had walked around with lead weights in my shoulders, dragging me down. Guilt chipped away at my self-confidence. To the point when I didn’t even feel I could be a Luna. Standing at the top of that tower, thinking the isolation helped clear y mind when it only bogged me further down in the doubt. Cyrus changed all of that. He took my guilt and made a solemn vow. Twenty years. If we can’t fix it together in twenty years, we will offer ourselves to the Moon Goddess. After that night in the hail, I cried for two days in a row. Once whipped away from the beam, the full horror of what I’d almost done was crushing. I couldn’t look at the children without damning myself all over again. Cyrus though, he became the Alpha. With everyone’s bl
Standing in the courtyard, I can feel my heart racing. It’s a strange feeling to know you’re going to die in a few minutes. I made my vow to Mireille all those years ago. I’ve been an Alpha of the North, overseen peace, and brought up our beautiful children, but this is the vow that matters. Because this promise was the one that eased my angel’s mind. Knowing we would have this final offering to the Moon Goddess and pray it is enough to free our children. /I love you/ I whisper to her, noticing her hands shake. I take her hand in mine and squeeze it. /You don’t have to do this/ she links back, her voice still as soft and light as the day I met her. Age has barely touched her. I am most definitely grizzled and rough around the edges. She is ethereal. Her pale green eyes shimmering with love and sadness, her white hair plaited tightly. She’s wearing a simple white dress. I insisted on wearing my huge winter fur. It seemed the right thing for me. /Wait, I want something/ I urge. I h
The bunker is so much better than before. That's what they tell me anyway.Except I am fascinated by the past. I want to experience the true heat of a shifter. Trapped underground every sensation multiplies by a hundred. Uncontrollable lust. To feel waves of desire so intense the only answer is to willingly walk into a room not knowing whose hands or lips will be the one to ease the burn. How is that even possible? Surely you bump or accidentally roll onto another couple? Maybe it wasn’t really ever that dark and anonymous. I couldn’t imagine how my long silvery hair or green eyes wouldn’t be visible, even if only for a second. I tried to ask my mother, Luna Elvie once, but she simply blushed. “Those days are the past. We have things under control now,” she smiled sweetly, stroking my hand. “It was a necessity back then. It wasn’t love. Wolves are powerful, demanding spirits.”“But isn’t it what us shifters are meant to feel?” I challenge, a rare occasion for me.My mother’s face t
It’s taken weeks of driving. My fathers borrowed brown leather jacket isn’t cutting it against the cold. Living by the sea, basking in sunsets and fishing lines, I’ve known nothing but the warm glow of the sun bronzing my skin. Now I’m trailing over ice fields, barely making it over the steep black mountain passes. Freezing cold and pissed off, I’m questioning why the fuck anyone would willingly live up in the middle of nowhere.“You know it’s not going to be what you expect,” my father had grumbled as I prepared to leave the villa. “You’ve never really felt that kind of cold before. It strips your soul.”“It’s where I’m from isn’t it?” I replied sharply.“Why should that matter?” he questioned, stopping to study me. If he wasn’t so completely covered in scars we could almost look like brothers. Ridges hidden beneath his beard, other lumps and grisly patches covered the rest of him.A mixture of torture, frostbite and battle written upon him like a map. Not that it bothered my mother
I don’t want to be here. The snow is annoying, it’s too fucking cold and that bunker gives me the creeps. Most of the beige-clothed regulars freak me out too. They’re so fucking happy to be here. Mainly, I hate the fact every time I stand in this courtyard all I can see is the place my poor mother took her final breaths. My father, used to communicating in his own silent code, has lost the love of his life. He trusted this place would save her. Meaning I must now be the perfect daughter and care for him.I do want to care for him. Just not in an underground bunker.My mate has chosen six months of fresh air over being with me. No negotiations or discussion. Certainly not the fairytale I was hoping for. The full moon after my mother died, we found each other. It was stunning, even I have to admit that. The beam came down but I wasn’t even looking at it. I was skulking in a corner, fingers entwined with my father as silent tears slipped down his cheeks. My heart leapt, charged wi