(Harper’s POV)
I woke up the next morning, still wrapped in Elias’ arms. I opened my eyes as Maia hummed content in my head. She seemed louder than ever and happy.
“Maia?” I asked in my head and felt her shift around
“Not yet,” she said, knowing what I was asking. I mean, after all, she was me. “Not yet, but soon. I can feel it,” and then she curled up and went back to humming. I was suddenly feeling restless, like I did when I was fifteen, before my first shift. It felt like something was trying to break through. Then it was Maia, but that wasn’t it this time, because Maia was already here.
I felt Elias move behind me, and he snuggled into me, nuzzling his nose into my neck.
(Harper’s POV) I looked in the mirror at my reflection and smiled.The full length black dress had a sheer back with diamonds sewn in that looked like they floated on my bare skin and one leg could be seen through the thigh high split. My hair was styled in a curled updo with a few curls trailing down against my shoulders and sparkled with diamond style hair clips. I had my makeup simple with barely a silver sheen across my eyes and cheeks and pale, almost skin tone lip gloss. The only jewellery I wore was the ring that I was unable to remove. I looked at Louise in the mirror, who looked stunning in her silver satin full length dress and I was reminded of ten years ago when we were in my room getting ready for the ball. So much had changed in that time. I was sad that Katie wasn’t here with us, but it had become apparent that the distance between Katie and Louise was more than just time. I had tried to ask Louise about it, but she had just
(Harper’s POV)My shifting for the first shift wasn’t fun. It was long; it was hard, and it was painful as hell. I remembered back a couple of weeks before my fifteenth birthday; I had started to get a fever. I had been so unwell and couldn’t understand why my parents seemed so excited about it. It was around a week later that I had started to feel the aches around my body adjusting. I had been confused because I had watched my sister’s first shift, and it had seemed like a disappointing event. My parents had gotten excited, of course. Shifting for a wolf is one of our most treasured abilities and always celebrated. But after my sister had shifted, something had changed in the dynamic of the family. Before her shift, my parents would dote upon her every word and she could do no wrong. I had always felt a little out of place, the second child that no one really wanted but had gotten, anyway. I wasn’t mistreated or anything,
(Harper’s POV)I woke up in Elias’ arms as he was carrying me into the pack house. I was wrapped up in his tuxedo jacket as he snuck in through the back door, through the now darkened kitchen and up the backstairs. The ball was still going strong by the sounds of it, although I had no clue what time it was. We made it to Elias’ room without being spotted, and he smiled at me as he gently put me down on the sofa and kissed the top of my head. I watched as he headed to his large chest of drawers and pulled out a clean t-shirt. He came back over and slipped the jacket off me and helped me with putting the t-shirt on. My whole body ached and felt heavy. Even lifting my arms to concentrated effort.Once the t-shirt was in place, Elias settled on the sofa next to me and pulled me onto his lap. I curled into him, suddenly feeling exhausted again.&nbs
(Harper’s POV)I looked at Elias and smiled. He smiled back and stroked my cheek.“Harper, I-” he started to say, but I leaned forward and kissed him. Just barely a touch at first, but then as he kissed me back I deepened it. I felt his tongue against my lips and opened my mouth for him. Elias pulled me down onto his knee and I straddled him as he pulled my body tight against his bare chest. I wrapped my arms around his neck and followed his tongue with my own. I was naked apart from the t-shirt and the feel of his increasing hardness beneath his slacks caused heat to stir in me as I rubbed against him. I pulled away from the kiss and began kissing along his neck, nibbling here and there as I went. I moved against his pants, knowing that I was getting aroused.Elias rubbed his nose against my neck and I shivered as the scent of my excitement reached him.“Goddess,” he muttered and grabbed my hair
(Harper’s POV)I woke up still in Elias’ arms. I felt warm and comfortable and smiled as I snuggled further into him and closed my eyes to go back to sleep. I ran my thumb down my ring finger of my left hand by instinct and my heart jolted when I didn’t feel the ring there. Somewhere in the back of me, Maia shifted around. It was common for our wolf's side to disappear for a few hours after the first shift, so I wasn’t worried that I hadn’t heard from her. I could still feel her and knew she was happy. And so was I. I had never felt more content, more complete than I did at this point. It was like Elias filled up an empty space in me that I really didn’t even know existed. I couldn’t understand it. It was never like this with Colton. Urg! Just the thought of that weasel was enough to put a bad taste in my mouth. I was so happy that Elias knew about his plans to attempt to take over. And even more happy that Elia
(Harper’s POV)I woke up to the sound of voices arguing. I kept my eyes closed and tried to assess the situation without alerting anyone to the fact that I was awake. I could tell that I had been put in a chair and both my hands and legs were tied to it. I tried flexing slightly, but the ropes holding me down gave no movement. Fuck, I really didn’t know how I was going to get out of this one. I had a feeling that my usual charm wasn’t going to go very far.I could tell the voices were Elias and Marcus, although they were whispers and even with my hearing barely audible.“Just don’t go crazy,” I heard Marcus “It could all be a misunderstanding, give her a chance to explain her side of the story,”“I think it’s pretty clear whose side she is on, don’t you?” Elias whispered back, “I knew there was something odd about her story, I should have listened,&r
(Elias’ POV)“Fine, we’ll do it the hard way,” I said as I handled the rough handle of the scalpel. This was no ordinary scalpel, though. The blade was coated in silver and soaked in wolfsbane to maximise pain. It was one of the most effective tools I owned and required the least effort. I wanted so desperately to get this over with. The last thing I wanted to do was torture the love of my life. But she betrayed me. Not only had she managed to open my safe, thanks to my stupid sentimentality. But a quick hack into her phone saw that she had sent images of the contents, contents that I didn’t want anyone seeing, to some contact of hers called Nathaniel. I had no idea why, but that name sounded so familiar.It hurt so much that she had betrayed me, but I just needed her to admit that she was The Circle. Then I would finish this once and for all and-“What?” the guttural growl inside my head asked, &l
(Harper’s POV)I couldn’t sleep. My head was so full of questions and scenarios. I couldn’t help going over all that I had heard over and over. I sat on the window seat in my room and just stared out of the window, not really seeing anything other than the thoughts in my head.And those eyes! No matter how much the other things pushed forward in my mind. Those eyes, the deep black vacuum that I saw in them, just kept coming back to me. I had seen a lot as an Elite Warrior, but I don’t think I had ever seen anything like that.“Hey Harps?” I heard a voice and jumped slightly. I had been so lost in my thoughts that I had forgotten that Louise was still here. I looked around to see her sitting up in my bed, her hair ruffled and her eyes still full of sleep.“Did you sleep at all?” she asked.“No, she didn’t,” a muted voice from the other side of