She looked me in the eyes for several moments, before she wrapped me in a hug. She mumbled a thank you in my ear, and I felt a few tears stream down her face and onto my shoulder. I hugged her tightly for a few moments, knowing exactly what she was going through. I thought the same exact thing, and Bridgit helped me through it then. It was my turn to help her through it now. Finally, we pulled away from each other. I looked around the room, debating where we could look next. "Let's check out the fireplace," Bridgit spoke to me in a soft, but strong voice. I smiled at her, and we both made our way over to the grande thing. Kneeling down next to it, we both started running our hands along the smooth marble sides. I paused on every ridge I felt, looking closely for something unusual. When I found nothing on its sleek black surface, I moved instead to the fire pit itself. There were logs arranged neatly on top of a rack, yet no ashes were found on the ground beneath them. I scrunched m

It was then I realized another pair of hands were wrapped around my waist. I struggled against them helplessly, as they brought me over to Lucas. I started dragging my feet and twisting my body, but the hands around me simply lifted me off the ground. Before I was ready, I was placed before Lucas. "Bring a chair here." I watched Lucas carefully but listened to the movement behind me. After a few seconds, the sounds stopped and I could feel something hard pressing against the backs of my knees. Lucas glared down at me. "Sit." He ordered with malice. "No," I told him defiantly. Lucas’ lips curled into a snarl. He brought his hands up and before I could move, Lucas shoved me to the wooden chair. It skidded backward several feet, noisily scraping against the kitchen tile.I sat in my chair, out of breath and out of options. Two other vampire men in this room could overpower me, and I had no chance of escaping. At least, not at that moment. I once again heard movement behind me, and

We traveled a couple of days until we arrived at Erix’s pack. After transforming and dressing, we reached the territory border and walked in on the main road. We were quickly met by a pair of fighters who had been running the perimeter and their Beta Wyatt.Before they had a chance to transform, I spoke. "I'm Alpha Madoka Arata and this is my packmate Joseph Tyndale. I'm here to visit Alpha Erix. He’s expecting me."They paused, clearly checking for confirmation with someone above them in the hierarchy through their link, and a moment later the closest one nodded and gestured with a turn of his maw for us to follow. We did. Joseph was quiet and stiff and more jittery than normal as he walked beside me, as if he expected to be attacked at any moment, his tension increasing with every further step into the territory.And why not? Erix hated rogues, especially because they played a huge part in Luna’s abduction years ago. We were led to the pack house and the Alpha met us outside. He cl

Gramps's good eye was focused on me with rapt interest, curious to hear my tale. Sympathy surged for the isolated old man sitting in the dirt beside me in spite of how little I wanted to expose my suffering."I met my mate when I was still building my pack. A mate was the last thing on my mind. At first, she was so rebellious and I wasn't interested but eventually, we accepted each other.""Sounds like a fairy tale," he commented with a sardonic smile on his weatherworn face."It was like one considering we met a little bit late. We were happy. We were both working to make the pack stable. Had a son. Grow old together." My chest tightened at the dreams that now seemed so far away."Guessing it wasn't that easy.""No. I made a mistake that led her to leave the pack.""I see. Your mate is dead now?"His words made my chest constrict more tightly."No, at least that was what the man she’s with told me. The vampire took her somewhere.”There was bitterness in the words. If only I didn’t h

"Mad, so good to see you again," the dean said. I leaned on the crutches as we shook hands before taking the proffered seats by her desk."Likewise, Dean Jordan. This is Joseph, a pack mate of mine."She nodded her greeting and then we went on to speak of my current search about my mate who happened to be with a vampire. I politely inquire about the state of the school, and she responded in kind, before she got to the tricky part of the visit. “So this mate of yours, do you have any pictures of her so I'll know if she’s been here?” she asked.I took Carrie’s picture from my pocket and showed it to her. “Hmmm.”“Did you see her here?”“Yes,” she said and looked at me. “Her name was Carnation and she’s a vampire wife named Lucas. Is she your mate?” I nodded at her. “She has changed her hair color and her name but she is Carrie, my name. It has been long since she left me and our pack to help search for the Queen of Vampire’s grandson. Sadly, the prince was retrieved but my mate didn