RIVER BROWNHis scent wraps around me like a warm blanket and I bathe in it holding him tight, letting his shirt wipe away the bitter tears.“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry”“I tell you to come, you fucking run to me River. No stalling, no negotiations”, he lashes out at me but his hands hold me like he’s afraid I’ll vanish into thin air and that is enough for me to take his scolding and admit I made a mistake.He sets me down on the base of the last stair, I sniff back tears as he strokes my hair away from my neck checking for any injuries. He hugs me for a minute trying to check out if my back has any slashes of some sort and I hold him tight.“River-““I’m sorry for everything I said. I didn’t—I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean any of it”“I know”“I didn’t think you’d show up…I didn’t think you’d want- “He pulls away from me kneeling in front of me and placing his huge hand on my cheek.Then Neo’s blue eyes twinkle at the sight of me, “You are ours for eternity River nothing is ch
RIVER BROWNI feel it, deep in my bones, deep in my heart I feel his absence and it chokes me so bad I think I fail to breathe for so many seconds as Malia drags me away and into the woods.I can feel the mate bond severed by their rejection, severed by Connor’s…Connor’s…no.“We—have to go back”, my throat bubbles with a sob.I stop, the tears free fall down my cheeks as everything turns hazy.We have to go back.For Connor.I have to hold him. I have to give him warmth, he was so cold, he was…so unmoving.I have to wake him up.Malia’s hand lands on my cheek but I don’t see her.I can’t see her when grief subdues me and holds its ugly claws to my neck.“They rejected you, River! One of them is gone, there’s no going back from that. I’m sorry, okay? Landon wouldn’t have fired his gun if I hadn’t gone to the cursed lands but that’s already done, River. Listen to me, they won’t get over this. I don’t think they consider you anything to them so do as they said, sister and get out of her
RIVER BROWNMy head stings, my face feels swollen and so does the rest of my body as my palms land on the soft sheets beneath me.The light from the window right across me nearly blinds me as I try to piece together my memory and how and where I’m at the moment.With one bed, the one I’m sleeping on, a few posters of people holding drinks on the wall and a few flowers by the night stand, I should be scared that I don’t know where I am but the room doesn’t exactly scream danger.It’s the opposite.The only scary thing where I am is the smell.Everything smells different, including the air itself, the flowers, the atmosphere itself stinks a little and the noise that hurdles from outside sounds like I’m back in the city.Except New Hawk wasn’t this noisy.“Gypsy?”I call my wolf, the headache elevating to a migraine.“We are not in the cursed lands, River. I can’t feel anyone”“Where are we then? There was a light, a woman. Did we shift? Did we attack her?”“We can’t shift. I think we pa
SPECIAL CHAPTER JACKThey said when an alpha died even the Goddess herself felt it, even the realm itself felt it.When I watched Alpha Connor Kincaid take a bullet from Landon O’Connor, the small weapon piercing his back all the way to his chest, my wolf and I felt it too.The day he died thunder itself struck closer to the forests, closer to homes but it affected our other alphas to no end.The Moon shadow pack has not been the same since we arrived in New Hawk carrying a corpse instead of showing our badge of victory for rescuing our Luna.Our alphas rejected our luna in a moment of grief, in a moment of weakness.I tried to look for her, Dice and I did anyway but we found her sister dead in the woods and our Luna, gone.“She’s the one who brought this misfortune on us. An alpha getting killed has never been heard of yet our most vicious alpha is dead, gone like any insignificant omega”“Watch your mouth”, Dice warns the bigger beta called Bane.Bane in return shoves Dice aside an
CONNOR KINCAIDDarkness had never scared me before.My father was worse than darkness and that’s where my fear dwelled.Yet the darkness that I fell into wasn’t scary because there was no light. It wasn’t scary because there was nowhere to move or nowhere to look.It was scary because there was no one there.It was scary because it was so still and void you could hear your own thoughts in it. And those thoughts were in no way comforting.It was scary because there was no out. I was here forever and I knew it and the worse part was?Killian was here with me too going through the same agony, losing his mind along with me.The thing about this darkness was, if you stayed still and tried to breath, the darkness wasn’t that bad.So, I stayed.So, I breathed it in.So, I gave in to the darkness and accepted that this was how death looked like.To be nothing. To feel nothing. To never see the light of day again.But as if my fate wasn’t sealed in the stars, in that darkness something happen
RIVER BROWN‘I had the power to access your world and the first time I used that power was the first time I met a real werewolf. Your father, Osiris. I made werewolves and humans learn about each other’s existence and that started the war so to keep peace I came back here to my world.And my power vanished when I became pregnant with you and your sister. Then Levi stole you both from my house, I don’t know how he got here, I didn’t know where he took you until…my power came back to me after so many years because I think you called me. You needed me, River.’FIVE YEARS LATER“Callum! Put. The. Puppy. Down!”The child with the blue eyes and messy dark hair as dark as midnight blinks at me twice then with a cheeky smile, he starts running with the puppy towards the girl.“Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” The little girl with the pigtails cries as she runs towards me. She drops her ice cream cone while running and that fuels her tears even more.“Callum Daniel Brown, if you don’t put that puppy dow
CONNOR KINCAID‘You rejected her? Damn you all! You rejected our Luna?’‘You were dead! Do you not realize that? You were dead because of-.’‘Don’t finish that sentence, Shane! Her lunatic of an ex-mate shot me, she didn’t. I died and you banished her without thinking twice. You think you were the only people grieving for me?’‘We would have never been in this situation if we never took her from Brackenridge! We should have killed her that night when Shane suggested it.The Lazarus pit hasn’t worked for years and up until moments ago, you are the only one it brought back from the dead. It didn’t work on Vi, it hasn’t worked on anyone else but you!Have you stopped to think that maybe it brought you back now that she is away?’‘Wash your fucking mouth with soap before you spill that nonsense to me. What happened to you, huh? Shane? Neo?’‘You died! That’s what happened! You left! You--.’‘I made a vow to River. Her little ass was going to be stuck with me forever and I intend to keep i
RIVER BROWN“Mommy?”“Mommy?”“Mommy?”My chest constricts, I look at my babies and is like I can’t see them.They are calling me, I realize. I look at them like I’ve just seen a ghost and yes maybe I’ve seen a ghost and maybe I’m on the verge of collapsing.“There are no m—monsters on the bed, honey. And Niko? I’m bringing ironman to bed, okay? How about you all go to bed and I’m right behind you?”They nod.They look at me like they can somehow sense my nervousness before they stomp their little feet up the stairs.It takes a minute to breathe right.It takes another minute to calm my chaotic heart as what just happened bashes my head in like a freight train.The only thing separating me and him is that door that mocks and calls to me at the same time.He wasn’t real but he…he spoke.‘You feel it too’, Gypsy adds.Yeah, I feel it.I feel that hole in my heart completely filled with relief.I feel my heart ready to implode and choke me where I stand.The fear of it being just another