I’ve been in wolf form solely for almost a week here in the forests of Canada. It’s cold. A lot colder than winter in Texas could ever be. I’m thankful that I’ve been in and out of my wolf form often enough while in the cabin in Maine that my wolf has grown in her winter coat. As night falls and snow starts to fall again, I decide that it would be a good time to head back to my den. I had found a large tree where some of the dirt had eroded around the roots. It wasn’t all the much work to dig further into the roots and make a den for myself. The tree grow partially out of a hill, so I was very well protected from the elements and predators. My fur would keep me plenty warm and I had smoothed the dirt in the den down enough that it was extremely comfortable. Wolves don’t require much, which makes this transition between being human and being a wolf so welcome. I know that a lot of the wolves in my life feel that I am being very melodramatic about everything that has gone do

A few seconds after JoJo hangs up, Jamal, Gregory, Edward, and Michael stiffen. I’ve never seen a mindlink look painful, but all of their eyes tear, the veins in their necks bulge. Their entire bodies tensed and I don’t know that they were breathing. It doesn’t last long, maybe just a few seconds, but it is the most excruciating few seconds that I’ve ever witnessed. When it’s done, all four males slump back in their seats, panting heavily. Bella, Nora, and Citra are all over them while Devin and Arya race to their sides to see if they need medical attention. “I’m good,” Jamal says, waving Devin’s hands away. “Not physically hurt. That transfer just hurt like a son of a bitch.” He massages his temples. Jamal tries to resist when Devin puts a hand on his head, but stops when Devin’s hand starts to glow. Must be his powers working. He places his other hand on Gregory’s head and does the same thing while Arya takes care of Michael and Edward. “I don’t know about you guys,

Josefina’s here. She’s here, back in Arcadia. And Ma used her luna command to tell me that I had to stay away from her. I wasn’t allowed to come anywhere near Josefina until I got a mindlink from one of her parents or one of mine. Do you know how hard it is to smell her scent? To know that she’s finally in the same city as I am, within a five minute walk after being out of my reach for months? And to have Alexander stuck in the Goddess’s Realm with some crazy ancient goddess of death? I’m quickly unraveling over here and nothing that I do is calming me down. “You’ve got to get your shit together, bro. You’re going to wear a trail in the sidewalk at this rate,” Caleb tells me. Caleb Thorne, my best friend, aside from the twins, is the son of Michael, an oracle of the pack, and Citra Osborn, the High Priestess of the Mother coven here in Texas. Both of them helped bring Nathan away from his crazy bio-dad at the beginning of the Civil War. Caleb is their oldest child.

It is the asscrack of dawn and we are up and on a plane across the globe to Ios. Bella, Gregory, Jamal, Nyx, and me. All tucked up in the large cabin of one of our private planes. I met Nyx at her house this morning with coffee in a thermos and the danishes that I noticed she liked from the coffee shop we went to before. I had called the shop yesterday, after the meeting, so that they would be made and ready to go when I dropped by before getting Nyx. Of course, I got enough for Bella, and her mates, but this was for Nyx. This was all for Nyx. Anything that I can do to get that smile on her face. The one that is so delightedly surprised that someone would do something for her. Not to get anything back from her. Just to see her happy. That smile is what keeps me going. It’s so rare. So rare that I can count the times that I’ve seen it on one hand. But I treasure every single one. “Did you get this for me?” she asked, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. “For you? Naw.

I didn’t mean to explode on Kaia like that. She and I seem to rub each other the wrong way a lot of the time. But there’s always an underlying chemistry beneath it. We’d actually been making some headway with our relationship, especially after I devoured her pussy when she sat on my face the other night. And then when she walked in tonight, she basically ran into my arms and we had the hottest make-out session that I’ve had. Well, maybe tied with the one that I had with Zoe in the park. But then she got pissed. And in my head, I was telling myself not to react. I was telling myself that this is probably just Kaia reacting to her heightened emotions. And then she said that sexist shit and I lost my cool. Obviously it was due to my heightened emotions as well, but I should have said it. Especially that last thing I said, because that didn’t only just hurt Kaia, but it hurt Zoe, too. I was literally on my knees in front of her apologizing when all of a sudden, she rips m