Selene
Shadows surround me, downing me in darkness so impenetrable even my supernatural eye site cannot stand against it. Moments ago I could have sworn Helene was standing next to me, talking me through yet another training exercise, but now when I reach for her she’s nowhere to be found. I cannot hear her anymore, and I cannot find even the tiniest sliver of light to help me find my way out of this place.
I’m alone, completely lost in the artificial night I created with my own hands, and a stab of fear slices into me as I realize I’m truly stuck. The obsidian cloud pulses with energy I can feel but not see, and I will the shadows to part, to take shape rather than blinding me.
They don’t budge, instead smothering me in pitch blackness, choking me with it until I’m gasping for air. Panicking, I send out an energy burst, hoping my power will shatter the darkness and return the shadows back to the fringes and holl
Selene“Mommy, are you wake?” A little voice speaks in my ear. Slowly I return to the waking world, blinking open my tired eyes and registering the warm little body snuggling up against me. “Hello little bean.” I murmur, wrapping my arms around Lila and pulling the covers more tightly around us. Lila hasn’t slept through the night in her own room since Bastien left. Instead she’s taken to crawling into my bed somewhere between the hours of midnight and dawn, which both warms my heart and makes handling my morning sickness more difficult. Today the sun is just beginning to rise, and Helene’s soothing draughts have actually managed to ease the worst of my symptoms, so I’m happy to simply lie here and cuddle with my daughter until we’re ready to get up. “Mommy, I had a dream ‘bout Daddy.” Her morning puppy breath is terrible, so I tuck her head beneath my chin,
SeleneWithin moments, I have five fully grown wolves hovering over my shoulder, reading the strange letter with sounds of confusion and disbelief. The tension in the room is palpable, but within moments it explodes into chaos. “What on earth?” Odette murmurs.“This is madness.” Drake agrees.Aiden is doing nothing but curse, while Donovan has taken to pacing and reading the annulment papers. Sophie is the only one who hasn’t said a word, but she seems stunned into silence. “This doesn’t make any sense, is it in code?” Aiden finally exclaims, apparently running out of four letter words. “I don’t think so.” Donovan frowns, “we’ll look into it, but there aren’t any patterns jumping out at first glance.”“Selene,” Sophie asks gently, “Are you okay?”“I think I&rs
SeleneEvery mouth in the room is gaping wide open in shock. From the looks on their faces, you would have thought I’d announced I was planning a ritual human sacrifice, rather than proposing a trip across the continent. When they finally regain their senses everyone begins speaking at once, half shouting objections and already trying to talk me out of it. In truth I can’t really decipher one person’s words from another’s, but I certainly hear Aiden when he thunders: “Are you out of your mind?” “No, I’m very much in my mind, thank you.” I retort, trying to stay calm amidst all the upset. The last thing I need is to have an anxiety attack from so many people yelling. That would hardly convince them I’m up for the journey. “Selene, you can’t go to Tartarus.” Drake insists in a much more reasonable tone than either of Bastien’s Betas. “Blaise is hunting Volanas. One look at you and you’ll be done for.”“We can disguise her eyes.” Helene announces, though I have no idea how we’d accompl
SeleneAfter two full days of arguing about my plans to go to Tartarus – most of which were devoted to convincing the Betas it was the right thing to do even though we’d already reached that agreement with Helene – Aiden, Donovan and I have finally reached something close to a detente. The Betas have accepted that I’m going to Tartarus whether they like it or not, and now Helene and I are well under way planning out trip. After reviewing the quickest route to Tartarus over and over again, we finally moved on to figuring out how we’re going to disguise me, what precautions I’ll take to avoid Blaise, and how to convince Bastien to believe me over Arabella. I’ve continued training with her day and night, moving on from bending shadows to working on hypnosis, harnessing moonlight and putting people to sleep. I’m not very good at the latter two, but I’ve made surprising progress
FredericSelene is smarter than I gave her credit for - and more stubborn. Her impromptu interview with the press outside the hospital was masterful - if it hadn’t caused such problems for me I’d even be impressed. However ever since she told the pack to start looking into my background, I’ve been doing nothing but putting out fires.Every five minutes a different reporter is calling for my comment, while a bevy of others dig into my past. Of course, Thomas Kane only has records dating back to college - when my mother invented him. Before then everything I did was tainted by my father’s so-called “crimes”. The media has already figure out my current identity is a fraud, how much longer can I last before they learn the truth? Even the medical board has been calling me, threatening to revoke my license. Part of me regrets throwing my mother into the basement, I’d really love to have som
Arabella “What fresh hell is this?” I mutter, staring at the news coverage from Elysium in horror. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. Frederic, who is by far the most conniving wolf I’ve ever met, is on screen getting tricked into admitting his crimes by that little whore, Selene. The worst part is that she drags me into it too, and he doesn’t deny a single word. My mouth falls wider and wider open with every word that passes between them. The cunning bitch clearly knows they’re being watched, and she eggs him on for the cameras. A dozen questions flood my mind as their conversation escalates. How on earth did this happen? How did she even find out the truth? She isn’t smart enough to figure it out on her own. I gasp when Frederic raises his hand to stri
Knocking on the door of the bedroom my father assigned Selene, I hear a dull thump and a sudden scampering sound within. Pushing the door open I scan the space, noticing a photo book splayed haphazardly on the bed as if it had been dropped there in hurry, and a pair of abandoned slippers on the floor by the headboard. However, I don’t see hide nor hair of the woman I came to find. Stepping inside, I call, “Selene?”Her sweet scent floats to my nose, muddled with a distinct tinge of acrid fear. Despite my sympathy for her plight, my sweet mate unwittingly placed a hunt under my nose, and no wolf worth his salt can resist such a tempting offer. “Come out, come out wherever you are, little wolf.”I hear a muted whimper in the direction of the bed. Furrowing my brow, I realize it had sounded awfully low to the ground, and after a moment I understand. The poor thing was so frightened she&r
ArabellaI have to admit, I like life much better with Bastien unconscious. It’s so much less stressful not having to play pretend every second of every day, especially with the constant news stories about Selene and Frederic. Part of me feels vindicated that Frederic exposed himself through utter overconfidence and stupidity – after all the times he called me names and criticized my mistakes, it feels good to see him get his comeuppance. Still, there’s no denying it’s inconvenient. Not to mention I very nearly slipped up with the memory potion. It hadn’t occurred to me that if Bastien wasn’t awake to drink the potion, it’s effects might have worn off by the time things have finally settled down enough for him to rejoin the waking world. It wasn’t until he started muttering Selene’s name in his sleep that I realized my oversight, and I very quickly called in another favor from my underworld