Neaera-At two o’clock in the morning, two days later, I was sitting on a plane with Stryker and the pack, along with fifteen vampires. I still didn’t know where we were headed. When I learned that the pack owned a plane that was big enough to hold over two hundred passengers, I was shocked.It would have been less shocking if it had been something new that Stryker did. The shocking part was that I grew up in this pack and I had known nothing about the plane. What else did I not know about this pack?“Are you okay?” Stryker asked in the seat beside me.“Will everyone be safe where we are going?” I asked, deciding to keep my real thoughts to myself.“We will be arriving at a private hangar. There is an underground path that the vampires will be able to access to get to our destination. I promise I made sure everything would be safe for everyone.”Being that he was thoughtful, I let go of the fact that I had been left in the dark about the pack. It really shouldn’t be too surprising, co
Stryker-Having Nea on my back as we ran across the open fields and through the woods, had been something I had dreamed of. When we arrived at a small village, we didn’t have to hide as we shifted back into our human forms. Most people around here were either part of the supernatural world or knew about it.Taking the clothes that I had discarded from another member that had picked them up for me, I quickly dressed. Nea wandered off on her own, but I wasn’t worried. I found her sometime later as she was having a snowball fight with some kids.Instead of joining in, I stood back and watched. This was the first time I have seen her laugh so freely as if she didn’t have a worry in the world. Even when she was younger, there had always been something keeping the light from fully reaching her eyes.“She really is something, isn’t she?” Zach said as he stepped beside me and watched Nea playing around. The hybrids also joined in on the fun, as did some of the werewolves.“That she is. By the
Neaera-This was just my luck. Instead of watching where I was going, I nearly ran into a wolf that jumped out in front of me. Now I didn’t know where I was. One minute I was having fun and snowboarding down the mountain, the next I was taking a hard left turn to avoid hitting the wolf.I ended up getting off track of the course and going down the wrong side of the mountain. My board was broken, and I think my ankle was sprained. Other than that, I felt fine, but when I attempted to let someone know what happened, I couldn’t get through.It was weird because it reminded me of when I was around Alpha Benson. I doubted there was any connection between now and then, but it made me feel uneasy. Sitting in a heap of snow that I crashed into, I stood up and winced when I applied pressure to my sprained ankle.Careful not to put too much pressure on my ankle, I turned around a few times to try to figure out where I was. Looking up at the area that I fell from, I saw that it was a large drop-
Neaera-Watching Stryker basically mutilate Benson, I sat back in shock. I have seen a lot of gruesome things in my life but watching someone I knew going to this extreme was on a whole new level. When Stryker stood up, he was naked and covered in blood.Looking into his face, I barely recognized the man that he was. His face was distorted, with wolf features mixed with his human features. It was hard to distinguish between beast and man.“Are you okay?” Stryker’s voice sounded more human than it did, but I couldn’t move or speak.I wasn’t scared or anything, but I was in shock. It wasn’t until he was standing in front of me, crouching in the snow, with the same hand that he used to rip apart Benson, that my senses returned. Blinking a few times, I focused on him and saw the same man I fell in love with, his eyes filled with concern and very much human.The animalistic features he presented moments ago were gone. I didn’t mind that he was covered in blood, but I was glad to see he was
Neaera-It took two days to get everything ready for the ceremony. I was nervous, but I wasn’t at the same time. It was helpful that I had a large support system around me. To think that before everything changed five years ago, I only had my brother to depend on and a few others.Now, I have them and so much more. A part of me wished that Stryker’s parents could be here because I would have loved to show them the woman I have become. I knew they had loved me like their own daughter and for the first time since learning of their death, it hurt knowing that they weren’t here anymore.“Are you ready?” The Alpha King asked through the door.I was in the room I shared with Stryker, but he was already downstairs, making sure everything was ready. The Alpha King was stepping in to make the Luna Ceremony official since we were uniquely going about this. It made me think of a wedding ceremony, that I have seen in movies.I was wearing a white dress, minus the veil, with a tiara covered in dia
Neaera-“What brings you here?” I asked the Alpha King the moment we were seated in the living area of the room that Stryker and I shared.“I had hoped to get here in time before anything happened, but I am sorry I hadn’t been fast enough. I am glad that you are okay though. When I found out that Benson escaped, I decided to follow him to Alaska and deal with him personally.” He was looking at me as he spoke until his attention moved to Stryker.“I am not surprised that you were able to take him out on your own. It just goes to show that some were born to be true Alpha.” The Alpha King added.“I can’t really take the credit. Nea had the situation handled before I got there, I just finished the job.” Stryker turned to smile at me as he reached over and grabbed my hand. “She is the true leader in all of this.”Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes at the pride in his voice. I could give a poor man food and he would think I solved world hunger. I did like how he admired me, but I was embarra
Neaera-We spent another couple of days at the resort, enjoying our time while we could. Everything remained relatively calm. The Alpha King stayed just an extra day, but then he had to return to his duties. We didn’t have any more surprise attacks, which was a good thing.Things were starting to fall into place, which was great for everyone. Zach was becoming eager by the minute though. He mentioned how when everything was over, he planned to take a long vacation and spend some quality time with his mate.I didn’t blame him because he was overdue for it. I didn’t understand how he managed to stay away from his mate for so long. Since becoming Stryker’s mate, I couldn’t imagine spending so much time away from him.“Hey.” Speaking of Stryker, he popped his head around the corner, from the bathroom, where he was packing up our stuff while I packed our clothes.“You about done?” I asked, giving him a teasing smile.“I am, but I was going to see if you wanted to take a quick shower with m
Neaera-“What do you want?” I bit off with venom in my voice.“That is no way to talk to your father.” Dimitri laughed and the way he said father seemed as if he had a challenging time choking that word out.“You have never been that to me and you never will. I will ask again, what do you want?”“I just figured we could have a little chat.” Dimitri sighed.“What do we have to talk about? I have heard everything I needed to hear from you.” I tried to keep my voice low just in case someone was walking by. I didn’t want anyone to overhear who I was talking to.“I haven’t told you about your mother or how you were conceived.”That got my attention and as much as I wished I didn’t want to know, I did. Since knowing I was adopted and finding out I was a hybrid, as well as who my father was, I have wanted to know. I still hadn’t heard from Zach whether his test results returned, but I suspected I was his niece.With everything going on, I haven’t had a chance to learn anything about my mothe