**LUCIEN**I hung up the phone from speaking with Ezekial.. To say that I am livid is an understatement. Ragnar is thrashing around in my head causing a massive headache. Monica must feel my anxiety. “What’s wrong, Lucien?” She said, rubbing her hands up my back. I immediately relaxed to her touch.. “We have to go to the pack house. We can’t stay here.” I say with a sigh and before I can turn around and explain why she has already left the kitchen where we were standing.“Monica?” I called out to her but she didn't answer. Still in my house I walk to where the kids are sleeping. She is grabbing Lincoln in her arms and starts walking through the house. I know now what she is doing. She trusts me. And if I say we have to leave, it’s time to go. I swelled with pride before grabbing Angel from the bed. “Daddy Lucien.” She says, peeking out from underneath her sleepy eyelashes. I want to cry. She called me daddy.. “Where are we going?” She asks me with a yawn. “We are going to my bro
**LUCIEN**I wake up the next morning and feel a cold breeze smack my chest. Odd. But not unusual in my old room..‘But it is unusual when you were warm and cozy an hour ago from our mate.’ Ragnar groaned. I shot up from my bed, looking around the room. The sun was still just coming up so we didn’t get much sleep. Maybe 4 or 5 hours. I don’t see the kids on the mattress on the floor, Monica’s scent that I do pick up on is old…I jump out of bed and mind link Leon.‘Where is Monica? Have you seen her?’ I ask, panic lacing my voice as I check the bathroom and start running down the stairs. Before Leon can yell at me and groan for waking him, my mate’s sweet scent hits my nose. Along with something almost as enticing as that beautiful creature of mine.“Monica?” I called her. I can smell her but I haven’t located her yet, so there is still panic in my voice. But I can feel happiness spread through my chest and tingle down my arms.But it’s not me, cause I am still internally freaking o
**MONICA**How could the King and his Royal Beta know something about me?I know the Moon Goddess said I am special. But there just isn’t any way that I am on the radar of the King of Werewolves. I look around the room. The Beta looks fixed in his spot. Eyeing everyone in this room. I look at Leon and Alora, and they look just as confused as I do. Lucien seems to be having a conversation with Ragnar. Studying his facial expressions, it doesn't look good.‘What are you two talking about?’ I ask him in the mind link thing. ‘Who?’ He says as his facial expressions soften but his eyes never reach me.‘You and Ragnar. I can see you are having an internal battle with him. Are yall having a disagreement?’ I ask. ‘No, actually we both agree on something, finally.’ He cracked a small, goofy smile until the Beta looked at him. His smile fell instantly. ‘And what might that be?’ I ask him. ‘That if they try to take you from me or this pack that we will challenge the King. There is no way
**LUCIEN** I reach Monica and catch her in my arms before her body strikes the ground. Ragnar is on the verge of shifting. Here she is again, unconscious. But this time I don’t know why. Before, when she passed out from seeing me shift, I could tell her breathing was abnormal. I start searching her body for marks, cuts, bruises. Any sign of a sickness that I didn’t notice before. I look up to her mark, and I am fuming. It looks as if it’s fading.‘Ragnar, what the fuck is happening??’ I ask in desperation, watching my mate mark fade from my woman’s neck. Feeling our bond fade like a speck of dust in the wind. “Lucien, what happened??” I hear Tobias say as he is running in my direction.“I came to check on her, and right as I called for her, she collapsed. But look.” I said through tears, showing the King her mark is fading. It’s not gone, but it is flickering as if it is fighting to stay on her neck.“This has happened before. But the shit you need to do it is fucking hard to find
**LEON** Hearing Lucien cry over losing Monica has to be one of the most heart breaking things I have ever heard. More heartbreaking then my mother being in a coma.. Having to have the King of all werewolves HELP me hold him to the ground as he cries and begs for her not to go completely ripped my heart apart. But it also sturrs my blood. As Alpha of this pack, not only has someone near and dear to us been killed, but it happened right under our noses. Now my brother is unconscious, my mate is having a panic attack, and the Alpha King and Royal Beta are barking orders to try and figure out what is happening. All I can do is cry. My baby brother is so devastated by losing his mate he has comepletely lost all of his senses and shut his body down. Looking at Monica's body right next to Lucien's causes my heart to constrict in my chest and knocking the wind right out of my sails. Before I can call for Ezekial, Alora has surprised everyone with her aura, calming the scene, sending
**UNKNOWN** The stretching of my bones, fur sprouting from where it was hidden, my muzzle extending, finally able to smell the earth. The feeling of being reborn FINALLY, after being locked away for all of these years has me over the moon...Not being able to talk to my human, to run, to shift. To come out was hell. Fighting the internal demon of my human had been more than enough of for any man to deal with. Memories that are mine but at the same time not. Memories of devastating details and moments that should have broken even the strongest of men. But somehow here I still am and the person who had to endure them still stands.. This overcoming urge to run is filling my veins, pushing me from wherever I am. Bursting through the door of a building that looks like a hospital. Feeling the earth beneath my feet, the smell of tall pines surrounding me. This is what a wolf needs, is to be one with the earth.. Feel the dirt on our paws, the scent of the forest in our furr. And now that
**RAGNAR**I feel like my body is on fire, and then suddenly it is being put out by an ice cold wave of love. Inhaling deeply, I have this urge to look around the room, but my eyes land on someone who I never thought we would see again.. Monica.. "Lucien... He's alive.." I hear Leon say from the doorway, a wide smile on his face, as the doctors and nurses swarm my bedside looking at me, checking monitors, attaching monitor notches to my temples to monitor my brain activity. But my eyes don't leave her. What if I look away and she disappears and this just becomes some bad nightmare I can't wake up from all over again..But she strides to me. A little hesitation in every step towards me. She is looking at me intently and then her melodic voice starts to ring in my ears."That's not Lucien.. It's Ragnar." She purrs, not caring about anyone else in the room. I reach up, hoping that when my hand connects with her cheek, she doesn't fizzle from my sight. But I was met with a warm sensation
**LUCIEN** I feel groggy like my head has been split into two. The pain radiating through my skull didn't even seem like mine. I can't even remember what happened. Did I have a drunken night? Did I get kidnapped? But something feels amazing and smells amazing, and when I finally come to the world stops and I remember everything.Almost losing Monica. Someone hurt her. Someone tried to kill her. Rage pouring into every cell. But before I can act on it, Ragnar starts talking to me. 'Lucien, good to see you, my boy. How are you feeling?' He asks, blocking my view of whatever he is looking at. 'Ragnar, I don't have the patience to deal with questioning. You know as well as I do how I am feeling.. Where is she?' I growl. Not able to hold back my frustration that could any minute turn to tears. 'Okay, okay. She's right next to me. But you won't believe it. It's not Monica at the moment. It's Calypso, her wolf!' He exclaims and I can feel his excitement and happiness and I go completely