Sorry about the chapter numbers being screwed up! I promise that the content in each chapter is correct.
~Sebastian~ Nickolai, Tank, and I wait patiently outside the packhouse–if you could call it a house. This place is more like a mini fortress preparing for war. We had to come through two checkpoints to get here and here we wait, six minutes past our meeting time. I lean against the post on the front steps of the large white mansion while Nickolai sighs heavily, checking his watch once more. “Be still, Nickolai” I mutter. “Easy for you to say! You’re a brute with no actual emotions.” I quirk a brow with mild amusement. He is nervous and I can see why. This is important. We want to leave a good impression on Alpha Alden, even if he is leaving a bad one on us. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.” he groans in frustration. “It’s fine. You didn’t hurt my tender feelings,” I joke. Nickolai leans on the post opposite me while Tank stands at the bottom of the steps looking around, no doubt feeling anxious the more we wait. From a protection standpoint, the longer we wait for such a meeting
~Wren~In ideal circumstances, Alden would have left on time to show the boys the pack lands. But the word ideal and Alden don’t play well together, so here I am, fifteen minutes later, cursing the asshole who has zero concepts of time. It’s not surprising that he is self-absorbed and can’t be bothered to do things with a time constraint. That would mean admitting that the world doesn’t spin around him like he is earth’s axis.The sun is closing in on its highest point of the day and where I am usually one for hiding in the shadows, today I am flat against the top of the wall. Which sucks for me because sweat mingles with the cotton of my shirt and I have no doubt that it looks like I was just involved in a wet t-shirt contest. I was overly excited about the mission, for obvious reasons, so I have been in place for close to an hour now. My patience is now near nonexistence.A feminine loud
She stares at me like I’m some magical creature that crawled out from a mystical place instead of the child she left to be raised by her heartbroken mate. After staring for a minute and a few tears, she wipes her hands on her thighs and chuckles nervously. She moves to touch my cheek, but I recoil from her touch. “You are more beautiful than I could have ever imagined,” she whispers.“Who is Waylon?” I say accusatory.She winces at my question, her eyes immediately darting away from mine as she reaches out and grabs my hand, pulling the door open. Elara sticks her head out and tugs me along with her. I hate how her hand in mine is comforting, like a nice cup of tea after hours in the snow warming me from the inside out. I want to hate her, be mad at her for not fighting harder to come back to us, to me. But I’m old enough to know that life is never as easy as making one singular decision. I squeeze her hand, trying to keep my tears at bay. The conflicting emotions are more than I ant
Avi grasps my wrist as I’m falling, stopping my descent and the guard's assault. My heel makes contact with the person below me, crunching into what I assume is his nose as I propel myself up using the guard’s face as a step. He releases me and Avi pulls me up so hard I almost overshoot the wall. He grabs my hand and we run along the top, leaping onto the roof of other buildings and moving closer and closer to our hideout. I glance over my shoulder, watching the crowds of people below us milling around and going about their day like they don’t live in the most corrupt pack on this side of the river. I hate this side of the wall. The oblivious or willfully blind pack members who ignore what is happening. We jump down out of a roof and into a tree where we have clothes hidden and I slip a hoodie on and grab the worn-out green baseball cap, tucking my hair up into it. Avi strips himself of his hood and takes his sunglasses off, stuffing them into his pocket. “Let’s move,” I tell him
~Sebastian~ I watch Nickolai closely, trying to gauge his thoughts. After our tour with Alpha Alden, I think we are all a little on edge. The guy is clearly an asshole who has zero regards for the mate bond. Which bothers Nickolai more than me. I am more worldly than he is, having been a warrior before officially becoming his shadow. The mate bond is respected everywhere, and everywhere it isn’t respected. You can find chinks in the pack’s defense. That happens when you deny a blessing or betray it. The things you touch slowly crumble and fall apart, or they should. The Black Night pack, however, seems to thrive aside from their slums outside the outer wall. They seem to do well economically and everyone appears relatively happy. Alden refused to let us enter his massive packhouse after his beta Spencer pulled him away for a moment. When he came back, he was fuming and barely talked anymore. He introduced us to his newest gamma, Waylon, though he didn’t mention who he replaced or w
~Wren~ Nickolai presses me hard into the wall, his head slumping down my neck, sloppily kissing at anything he can find. He had way more to drink than he was expecting. That may have been my fault, considering him being blazing drunk works better in my favor. One thing the humans did right was brewing one hundred fifty proof alcohol, not that we get drunk on it as they do, but after about 16 tall glasses? Yep. It’s enough to make a werewolf loopy. “Nickolai,” I whisper, realizing he is breathing heavier into my neck, his arms going limp. I grab hold of his shoulders, giving him a little shake. “Shit.” He fucking fell asleep way sooner than I expected. He has me pressed into the wall right next to the door. I glance around and groan in annoyance when I realize how far away the bed really is. It will not be easy to get him over there. I gently press him back delicately, balancing him so he doesn’t fall backward and hit his head. He totters to the right towards the door, making me squ
I shove the treaty in the back of my waistband and pull my blouse down over it before adjusting my hair and fixing my makeup. Thanks to the water, I splashed on it. When I open the door, I find Nickolai standing outside of it. He looks exhausted and overly emotional. His eyes meet mine and I can see regret written all over his face as he refuses to come any closer to me. “I’m sorry,” He whispers, his gaze still locked with mine. “I didn’t mean for it to go this far.” I offer him a sad smile. I don’t know what to say. He is feeling guilty and I’m the one who compromised him to steal something beyond important to his pack and their way of life. But as much as I like Nickolai, I have to choose my family, my rebels who need me. We need the protection he is trying to guarantee for his pack. And this treaty is the first step in acquiring that. “You going to go then?” He asks. He drops his eyes to my feet where my shoes are on my feet. I can’t help myself, he looks so sad and puppy-like, s
~Sebastian~By the time the sun peeks through the curtains, I’m still lying awake on my bed, trying to understand the angry feeling in my chest. I feel like a freaking child angry about having to share his toy, but the thing is… She isn’t mine to share. And for some unknown fucking reason, that just makes the anger grow. She isn’t mine at all, and why does that even matter? I don’t want her to be mine. I just don’t fucking want her to be Nickolai’s — or anyone else’s.Because she is a liar and a thief. It’s not because she has a smile that is contagious or a laugh that makes me feel like even the darkest corners of the earth can still find the light. No, I just don’t want her to make a fool of my pack, or Nickolai. Or me. Fucking hell.I push off the bed and rub my hands over my face. I’m fucking tired, but I know Nickolai is going to wake up in a panic about not being able to find the treaty. Which means