BRYNN Chris and Dante had left to go back and watch the bastard and his daughter. Lauren and Daddy Dearest were complete psychos, but even that was an understatement. The Council pulled up a list of what they knew she was responsible for helping with. It was not a complete list though. Kidnapping, abductions, murder, torture, rape, infiltrating packs just to burn down their hospitals, and the most disturbing was a recording of her severing the head off a pup just to send it to the parents along with a copy of the tape. I had never hated or been disgusted by someone more in my entire life than I was by her. Taking one look around the room showed that everyone was under the same impression. “Would you like us to leave some extra warriors here in case more of their people come?” Council Member Thompson asked us. I looked at Theo because that was definitely his call. He was looking at me too. ‘What do you think, baby?’ he asked. ‘It wouldn’t hurt. That would also give us some addi
BRYNN A blonde woman with chocolate brown eyes stood across from the man who murdered my mother. “The cage has been completed ahead of schedule,” she told him. The most sadistic and possessive smirk teased his lips. He was the type of person whose soul would be as black as tar. I highly doubted there would be anything good inside of him at all. “Perfect. The vessel will be mine tomorrow,” he said with a cold chuckle that sent a shiver down my spine. My eyes popped open, and I gasped for breath. Theo woke up with a start, looking around for the threat. There was no doubt that he could feel the panic coursing through me. I had no idea what my face looked like, but Theo immediately pulled me into his arms and comforted me. My mind was racing with the fact that they would be here tomorrow. War would be at our borders literally tomorrow. My body was shaking as he rocked me back and forth. There was no indication of how long it took for me to calm down, but it did eventually happen.
THEO Alpha Kade asked if he could speak with me privately, so Jackson let us borrow his suite. It used to be mine and his before I took over as Alpha, but my parents quickly moved into their own place. “Would you like something to drink? My brother Jackson tends to keep a good selection of alcohol, soda, and energy drinks. He swears every good Beta needs them,” I explained. “Apollo found a way to incorporate the costs into the salaries for all of our leadership,” he said, with a smirk. “I’ll take a shot of something because I know we could definitely use it today.” Yes. We definitely could. We were all on the same side, but that did not mean it would be any easier on them or us. Jackson was a vodka drinker, so I poured us both a shot and set the bottle between us. It took a significant amount of alcohol to get shifters drunk, but that increased even more for Alphas. Our metabolisms burned it off that must faster. We clinked glasses before tossing them back. Alpha Kade leaned his
BRYNN My mother had been my hero growing up. I wanted to be just like her – loving, selfless, incredibly brave, and would do absolutely anything for those she loved. The thoughts in my head drifted back to the letter I found in the book earlier. ‘My sweetest girl. I hate the fact that I had to leave you, but I know that you will become an incredible young woman. If there was one thing that I always admired about you was your resilience. Things could hurt you but never break you, and that’s exactly what I need you to remember when you stand in front of your enemies. Don’t let them destroy the person you are. I wish that I had been with you all these years, but everything that’s happened was exactly what needed to in order for you to reach your destiny. I will always love you, and one day we will be reunited.’ I had suspected she knew that death would claim here since my birthday. This letter from her just confirmed that. The reunited part was confusing though. Did she simply mean wh
BRYNN The bastard was letting his people fight his battle for him. His smug satisfaction really pissed me off. Could you say cowardly? They were expendable, and that was disgusting. This was the first time I had ever been on a battlefield before. I was not certain what to expect, but there was no way that I could have been prepared. It was nerve-wracking to see our people fighting against the enemy. The smell of blood and death hung in the air, reminding me of the harsh reality that there was permanence to those who fell today. I just prayed that they were not from our side. I was able to do a Matrix backbend just in time so that flying dagger missed me. I simply smirked at the bastard for his horrible aim. It was easy to see that he honestly thought coming here would be an easy affair for him to acquire what he sought – me. Too damn bad because we would never give in until we were the victors here today. Screams filled the air as Mystra and Fyst flew down and destroyed the witche
THEO My eyes surveyed Dark Moon pack members who came out to the field once I lifted the command to stay inside. We needed them to understand what happened because there was no way that we would be able to sweep this under the rug and definitely did not want to. Elle said that she would send out an Alpha command to everyone in this pack to figure out who the traitors were once and for all. “Stand still unless you are a traitor to this pack. Come to the front if you at any time have or would betray this pack,” Elle commanded. It was remarkable how strong her command was. It made sense given her lineage and all of that fun stuff. The quizzical looks on everyone’s faces as they became immovable were priceless. Normally, only Alphas could issue commands like that to their own pack members. Yet, Elle just accomplished something that should have been impossible. What was invaluable was the fact that it worked to show us all of our snakes. Ten…fifteen…seventeen people came forward. It f
BRYNN “Eighty-nine wolfies jumping off a waterfall. Eighty-nine wolfies –” Moira cut me off with a warning growl as she glared at me. ‘Please for the love of everything happy in the motherfucking world. Stop with the wolfies!’ We had been walking and walking and walking without knowing where the hell we needed to go or what we needed to find. There was no map, no clues, and sure as hell no ideas given about this needle in Selene’s haystack. “Do you have a better song to sing or an idea of what we should be doing to find what we need?” I asked with a huff punctuating the end of my question. I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. Breathe in … hold it … breathe out … repeat. “Sorry. I’m just frustrated, but I know you are too. Do you have any ideas?” I asked her sheepishly. The distance away from Theo was wearing on me like hell because I did not know if he was okay. Was he hurt at all? Did he know that I was fine? Were our people okay? The questions were killing me
THEO I pressed a kiss to my mate’s temple as we watched her parents reconnect. It had still not fully sunk in that her mother was alive and back here after having been killed. I felt an overwhelming amount of love and awe coming from Brynn. Her family was finally whole again after seven years of struggling through the reality of never seeing her mother again. Luckily, it was not the path or reality that was forced upon them until they eventually passed on from this world. I knew that Brynn and Moira were safe in Selene’s realm, but that did not abate all worry or fear that we would never see them alive and awake again. It was just a good thing that they did not take any longer because each minute without them beside us, Zen and I were edging a bit closer to insanity. There was a knock on the door. I knew who it was without even needing to ask because I had called for my parents and Jackson to come up. It was imperative for them to realize what happened before anyone else. Tris’ r