(Euan’s P.O.V)
Fucking rogues had to ruin everything, again. I can feel Junie shaking in my arms, my t-shirt was wet from where she had her face buried into my chest.
“Calm down baby, we are almost there,” I say, seeing the safe house in front of me.
Euan, where are you!? My mother shouts in the mind link.
I’m with Juniper, we are right in front of the safe house. I reply as I get to the door.
Oh, thank the Goddesses above. She responds.
I cut the mind link as I put my thumb on the scanner and the door clicks open, I slip inside before I close the door and bolt it. Juniper’s breathing is coming in short, shallow pants and I know she’s on the verge of having a panic attack. I make my way through the living area and down to the underground bunker where the rest of the pack who aren’t warriors and who can’t shift are. I find a quiet corner and sit on the ground, holding her in my lap.
“Breathe Junie, follow my breathing. In. One. Two. Out. One. Two.” I say.
She follows along and I repeat my instructions to her over and over again until her breathing calms. I pull her head from my chest and look into her eyes, and I can see she is thousands of miles away. Probably reliving the attack from four years ago. I do the only thing I can think of, I ground her.
“Junie bear. Come back to me.”
She doesn’t answer, which I’m not surprised about.
“What can you feel Junie?” I ask as I place my hand over my heart.
“Your heart.” She whispers.
“What can you smell?” I ask as I move her head so that it’s in the crook of my neck.
“You.” She murmurs, and her breath brushes over my marking spot, sending a shiver through me.
“What can you hear?” I whisper directly in her ear.
“You.”
“Good girl, princess. I got you.” I whisper.
She stays like that for several minutes, just breathing deeply as she continues to ground herself as I rub her back in slow and smooth circles. Finally, she pulls her head away from my neck and looks at me. Her eyes are red and puffy, her face is blotchy from crying, and she couldn’t look any more beautiful if she tried. She shifts away from me a little when she realizes where we are.
“Thank you.” She signs to me.
I couldn’t help the twinge of disappointment that she signed her thanks to me when she was just talking but I understand that she’s now aware of what is going on and the fact that there are pack members and kingdom members here in the safe house. No one will bully her while I’m with her, but I know that she doesn’t want them to have any more “ammo”, as she puts it, to tease her.
“You’re welcome,” I say before I lean in and kiss her forehead.
After what feels like hours, the door to the safe house is opened and I smell my mother coming into the house.
“It’s over everyone. The rogues have left. We’ve taken several prisoners, but the rest are either dead or managed to escape back to the Rogue Lands.”
“Luna Queen, how many warriors did we lose?” One woman asks as she holds her trembling child in her arms.
“Surprisingly, we didn’t lose any. Our warriors were just injured, which is not like the rogues to leave people alive.”
“Oh, thank the Goddess.” Someone murmurs.
There were sighs of relief going around the bunker, as everyone begins to get up from where they were sitting with their children and friends. I stand up, with Junie still in my arms, as I walk out of the bunker and up into the living room of the safe house.
“Junie bug!?” I hear Killian shout.
“She’s right here, Uncle Killian,” I shout back.
I see him pushing his way through the crowd, his face pale, and eyes wide with worry for his daughter.
“Are you okay?” He asks, checking her over in my arms.
“We made it to the safe house before rogues could engage us. They surrounded my car when we were driving back, but I was able to run some off the road and the others fell back.”
“Thank the Goddess. I’m taking her home.” Killian says as he grabs Juniper out of my arms.
This made me bristle with indignation and possessiveness, wanting to keep hold of her, enjoying the feel of her being so close to me.
Woah, where the hell did that come from? I think to myself.
Killian gets Juniper out of my arms and starts to walk off in the direction of their house, leaving me to make my way home by myself. I couldn’t wait for Juniper’s birthday in 2 days. Hell, I couldn’t wait for my 18th birthday, which is in 5 days! I’ve never given much thought to my mate, but right now, I’m praying to the Moon Goddess that I find my mate soon after turning 18. I don’t want to be waiting forever like my dad had to. I walk up the house's front step before hearing my father calling my name.
“Euan! I want you down in the dungeons with me tomorrow.”
“Rian! I don’t think that’s appropriate!” My mother says, coming up behind him.
“He needs to learn how to interrogate prisoners some time, and there’s no time like the present. It won’t happen today because there’s too much going on right now. So tomorrow first thing after breakfast, we’ll head to the dungeons together.”
“Sure dad,” I say, wrinkling my nose at the smell of rogue and blood coming off him.
“Don’t wrinkle your nose at me, young man, soon enough you’ll be fighting in battles of your own and you’ll come back smelling like shit.” He growls, before walking into the house.
“He really does smell like shit.” My mother giggles.
“I HEARD THAT!” He shouts back from somewhere in the house.
I throw my head back, laughing. I couldn’t wait to find my mate so I could have a relationship like this with her.
(Juniper’s P.O.V) My dad was carrying me through the pack territory toward our house, and all I could think of was Euan and the way he soothed me today. It’s been a while since I’ve had a panic attack like that, and for him to be able to get me out of it and then ground me. That was incredible. “Are you okay Junie bug?” My dad whispers. “Yes, daddy,” I say out loud since it’s just the two of us. “Good. What were you doing?” “Euan and I were at the lake; he’d taken me there because—” I stopped short of telling him what happened with Grant. “Because? Don’t bother lying to me, Morrigan already told me what happened with that slimy little weasel Grant.” He growls. “Well then, I don’t need to tell you what happened,” I whisper. “Junie, do you want to reconsider being homeschooled? You’ve had to put up with so much that I think you need a break from the other pups and cubs in the kingdom.” “So, tuck tail and hide? I thought I was of Royal Beta blood. Do Royal Beta’s run
(Euan’s P.O.V) Waking up this morning, I couldn’t help the slightly giddy feeling of interrogating my first rogue. That makes me sound like a psycho, but I don’t really care, we needed to get to the bottom of why the rogues are once again coming into the kingdom and targeting our pack. My father had called the packs, werebear sleuths, werecat prides, and dragon dens within the kingdoms, asking if there had been any rogue attacks on them. Only the Alpha’s that border the Rogue Lands stated that they saw rogues crossing into the kingdom, they didn’t want to engage them if there was no threat. These packs and sleuths that border the Rogue Lands were smaller and had fierce warriors, but a battle with rogues would pretty much decimate their people. They had tried calling my father, but he had been in and out of meetings, and the attack happened so quickly that he hadn’t had the chance to check his messages. So, other than those packs and sleuths, no one saw the rogues, which me
(Euan’s P.O.V) After we continue our interrogation of the other rogues, we don’t get any useful information other than they were after Juniper. We walk back to the packhouse to meet Royal Gamma Cormac and his son, Angus, who is my future Royal Gamma. “So, we know they are after Junie, but we don’t know why. Do you think we should get in touch with King Cerberus in Alynthi? See if any of his vampires know anything?” Angus asks. “That’s an excellent idea, Angus.” My father says. He grabs his office phone and dials the number for King Cerberus. “King Cerberus.” “Hey, my sweet little caped cannoli.!” “Rian, I swear on the Moon Goddess that the next time I see you, I will rip out your throat and spit in it.” “Well now, that’s just rude! Here I am, calling to speak with my best friend and this is how I’m treated!?” King Cerberus lets out a long sigh before saying, “What do you need?” “We had another rogue attack yesterday, no one from our pack was harmed bu
(Juniper’s P.O.V) “That’s where you’re wrong, Junie. You’re everything.” Euan says, before kissing the top of my head. I can’t help the way that his statement makes me feel like my high school crush finally sees me. In all honesty, I’ve had a crush on Euan since I was little and the way that he’s looking after me right now, makes the butterflies in my stomach go crazy. I’m cuddling with my crush! I know that we spent the afternoon the other day together but there’s something significant about this moment. Euan and I stay on the platform for a few more minutes before we both climb down and walk back to my house. When we turn the corner to the backyard of my house, I see my parents both pacing back and forth. They hear us coming and both their heads snap up in our direction. “Junie!” My mother cries, running toward me and hugging me tight to her. “We were so worried about you, sweetheart.” I hear my dad say, as he engulfs both me and my mother in a hug. “I’m sorry, I di
(Euan’s P.O.V) Walking home after dropping Juniper off, was one of the most difficult things I’ve done in a long time. For some reason, my mind and heart were telling me to stay, to be with her, and never let her go. My body, however, wasn’t listening and so walking home in silence my mind wanders. The questions play repeatedly as to why the rogues are after Juniper. Why were they singling her out? Tomorrow is her 16th birthday and I hope that, for her birthday, we can provide her with the answers to the questions we all have about the rogues. My sleep that night was punctuated with nightmares of losing Junie, of her attack when she was 12 but instead of surviving—she dies. Shooting up in bed, my chest heaves, and my body is covered in sweat from the nightmares. I look at the clock on my bedside table, it’s barely 5 in the morning. I grab my phone and shoot Juniper a text. Me: Happy birthday my Junie bear. I have a gift for you after school, I’ll be picking you up instea
(Euan’s P.O.V) Day of Euan’s 18th birthday: Wake up human!!!! What the fuck? Wake up, wake up, wake up!! Let’s go find our mate! You must be my wolf. Yes dipshit, my name is Dakota. Now get the fuck up! He growls pacing around back and forth in my mind. I’m happy to have my wolf now, even though we weren’t going to be able to shift until next week on the full moon. Getting showered and dressed quickly, I make my way downstairs for my birthday breakfast with my family. Once I’m finished with breakfast, Dakota starts pacing around in my head again, making my skin crawl, needing to get out of the house and go somewhere. So, I decided to go visit my grandparents since they aren’t that far away from our house. Knowing that I’ll have to pass by Juniper’s house, a shiver runs through me, hoping that she’s outside when I walk by. Coming up on Juniper’s house, I pick up the soft scent of roses and sweet orange. My wolf, Dakota, shakes out his fur and starts purring at the sm
(Juniper’s P.O.V) I kissed him! I can’t believe that I kissed Euan Leonard O’Connor! Goddess above, I can’t believe that I did that! Euan pulls me to him, hugging me tight enough to make me squeak in surprise. “Euan, we need to get back to your party,” I say. “Fuck the party, I just want to be up here with you.” He says, pushing his face into my hair and sniffing. “Are you sniffing me?” I ask with a giggle. “You just smell good today, Junie.” He responds. His arms fall away from my body, and we make our way back down to the party. The last two days, I couldn’t get Euan out of my head after our little “date” he took me on for my birthday. It was probably the best birthday I’ve ever had. I don’t celebrate my birthday anymore, no sense inviting kids over who make fun of me. I don’t even really like my parents and siblings celebrating it either. Euan made it special and even though I was annoyed that he had gotten me a gift and then surprised me, I couldn’t he
(Euan’s P.O.V) Night of the Full Moon It’s the night of the full moon and it’s time for my first shift, this momentous occasion was being marked by a party for all of those who are shifting for the first time tonight. My mother started this tradition after they fought the dark Fae all those years ago. Dad, gramps, and grams told her they didn’t really do anything particularly special for those who shift for the first time. They reasoned it was a family thing and wanted to keep it that way, well mom blew that idea out of the water. Throwing Full Moon parties for those who will be shifting for the first time. Followed by a pack run after all the pup’s shift. Owen was going to be shifting for the first time with me, along with about twenty other pups. The packhouse was a flurry of activity, getting it ready for the party later tonight, and all I could do was sit and think about Juniper. It had been a week since my birthday, and I hadn’t had the chance to see her since. We