[Hyacinth] "Cindy, are you sure," Slate looks concerned. Very concerned. "What makes you think it is insanity and not something else?" "Well I have been under a lot of stress lately," I start to ramble, "and some of the things I'm hearing and seeing and remembering make no sense. My best explanation is that none of it is real, except in my mind." He looks at me as he quietly holds my hand, his thumb brushing my knuckles absently. "But what if it is something else, something incredible, something a lot better than going insane," he takes a moment to bring his hand to his nose and take a deep sniff. "What if you are finally getting your wolf?" I try to think back to when Bash started manifesting his wolf. Did the voice come first, or were there other signs? "When you talk to your wolf, does it respond?" I ask, "Because this voice never does. It's more like a blurt here and a blurt there, more like the things I don't want to say out loud than a separate personality." "Sage doesn't

[Hyacinth]The large cast-iron gates to my family estate were open and inviting, welcoming me home like an old friend after a long time away. The only problem is, this isn’t my home anymore. It hasn’t been my home in over six years. It feels so strange to be standing here between the open gates seeing that so little has changed. The front of the house is still perfectly groomed with expansive well-kept gardens and long green lawns while the back is still wild and untamed, a proper forest for wolves to prowl and hunt. It is so familiar that my heart aches, remembering all of the happy times we had here as a family before everything fell apart. Like a photo of the past, my family home appears to be trapped in time, a little faded around the edges but otherwise the same. “Mama, this house is scary,” Sebastian looks up at the giant estate, his eyes wide with wonder and fear. Maybe he is just feeling my fear of returning, or maybe it is something about the vibe of the house itself, but m

[Hyacinth] "TABITHA!!!" I screamed. She and I might have her differences, but for all that is wrong about her, she does seem to really love my father. She came rushing over the hill as if on springs and fell to her feet when she saw my father, her hand pressed against his chest. I pulled out my phone and called the nearby hospital, Moon River, to have my father life-flighted to the city for care. While I gave the instructions, my stepmother was whispering something in Henry's ear while tracing her finger along his chest. I couldn't hear it all, but one of the things I did hear was "Stay with me, Henry." Tabitha wrapped herself around him like a blanket wouldn't allow anyone near him. I was about to ask Slate to forcibly remove her so that I could examine him when we finally heard the helicopter in the distance. Thankfully, by the time the paramedics loaded him onto the gurney, his heart was still beating, although erratically. I felt so helpless, not only as a daughter but as a p

[Slate]“I asked a question, Slate, and I demand an answer,” Ash is stomping her feet while holding the door open, “Now!”“What am I doing?” I question myself internally. “You’re claiming our mate,” Sage insists. “But she doesn’t have a wolf, not yet, how can she be our mate?” I interrogate my wolf. “What we are feeling isn’t the mate pull.”“Maybe it is,” Sage suggests. “But maybe it is just weak because her wolf isn’t ready yet.”“But what if we’re wrong?” I insist. What if I’m wrong? What if I've been wrong this whole time?My hands fall to my sides as I slowly stand to face Ashlynd. The expression in her eyes is anger and something else, disbelief--as if this scenario isn’t just offensive, and upsetting, but impossible. "Let's talk about this outside," I insist. Looking back at their father lying prone in the bed behind us. "This is not the place for this conversation.""We're going to talk here and now," she stomps her feet again like a whining child, her face red and puffy w

[Hyacinth] Slate almost kissed me. Again. Does he have any idea what that is doing to my heart? It is so confusing, this hot and cold relationship he and I have. Sometimes I think he's trying to tell me something without words. Sometimes I am not sure if he just wants to be friends or something more, while at other times he completely ignores me, or worse, shuns me. My parents, before my mother died, had a beautiful relationship. They loved each other so completely and created a home that glowed warm with that same love. I had always hoped to have a home like that someday. Unfortunately, fate had other plans. I love Bash, I love him more than I have words to express, and he has always been enough for me, but that was before I met Alpha Slate Danvers. Damn that wolf, but he stirs feelings in me that I don't know how to understand. How can I have so many feelings for someone I shouldn't want, someone who should be more like a brother to me? It would probably help if he didn't