How is Cindy going to get out of this one?
[Hyacinth]As soon as Ash was down the stairs, the music began to play. Lying here, I can hear the sound of the prerecorded wedding march and feel my heart sink with each note. The wedding has officially started. Which means my chance to rescue my mate is almost at an end."It is never too late," Halcyon barks. "I don't care what she does. He is ours and no vow is going to change that." "The problem is," I counter, "Is that Ash thinks the same thing too." "I wish I knew how to do that self-healing trick," I moan. "It would be really useful right now.""I can teach you," Halcyon suggests. "It won't hurt the pup, but you will need to trust me enough to take over."I agree and almost instantly I see her guiding my mind in the steps required to make it work, to look inward and see what is wrong and slowly mend it. Rather than use my powers, it is more like a redirection of energy. Exhausting, but not in the same way as sharing my energy with others is. Soon the pain in my back is almos
[Blake] It's hard seeing everyone around me struggling while I'm unable to do anything to help. It isn't in my nature to need others so much. I am the daughter of an Alpha. While I do not have my husband or brother's powers, I am still a strong wolf, a capable leader. Unfortunately, I am also several months pregnant and on bedrest for my remaining three months. I should just be glad they took me along for the ride this time, instead of leaving me at home base. Of course, now that the packhouse burned down and the clinic is compromised there is no home base, so the best place I could be is in the back of the River City van that Hyacinth and the others "borrowed" from Alpha Davis. At least it has cushy seats and one of those TV screens built into the back of the front seats. "How are you doing there, Mrs. Michaels?" A grinning young wolf peeks his head in through the passenger side door. "Need to go to the bathroom?" "No, thank you," I blush. I hate being so dependent on others
[Hyacinth]By the time I make it to the top of the aisle, Ashlynd is already holding Slate's hand as a preacher speaks over the two of them. Next to her are two of her new witch sisters. Next to Slate is nobody. I have already missed the part where they ask those in attendance if they have any objections to this union. Knowing Ashlynd, she probably didn't even include that part. She isn't the type to welcome opposing opinions. Everyone is focused on the scene in front of them. In the audience is my father and his wife, my evil witch step-mother. Also included are all the alphas and their senior cabinet members who came to the summit and Alpha Beta Ball. Every important wolf on the West Coast, as well as a few from the East Coast and one as far away as France. I'd be impressed if I wasn't terrified. All of these wolves are under her compulsion, controlled by the spell worn around Ashlynd's neck. I stand there, unnoticed and numb, unable to move as I listen to his promise to love an
[Hyacinth]Slate gives me a small head start. Bounding ahead, my heart pounding, I run on my new wolf legs, sprinting through the trees, weaving around them like the breeze itself, touching the branches and the bark with my fur as I brush past them yet easily missing any logs, rocks, or pitfalls in my path. I am graceful and strong in my wolf form, and my legs are long and powerful. Even though Halcyon is the one in charge, I can still feel everything--the cool wetness of the soil beneath the pads of my feet, the smell of fresh rain in the branches of the tall pine trees. And the scent of my mate not far behind me. He smells so good, so mouthwateringly delicious. Like the sweetest candy.Now I finally understand the gravity of what had been taken from me when my mother chose to seal off my wolf. She took away a whole world of sensations. I played in these trees as a little girl and ran through them gleefully as I played with the other pups. I had no idea what I was missing without
"Mark me?" I whimper as I retake my bipedal form, returning to a body with only two legs instead of four. "You are my Luna," he growls as his form shifts above me. It has been so long since I've had him this close to me, naked and vulnerable, wanting to touch me, that I start to cry as I reach up to touch his chest. "Are you sure that is what you want," I want him, now more than ever, but I don't want him to feel like he is making a mistake. His expression softens as he bends his elbows, lowering himself to me so that he can press his lips to mine gently. "It's all I've wanted for a very long time, Hyacinth. I want you to be my Luna, my wife, and the mother of my pups.""About that, I reach up and touch his face," that night, before you asked Ash to be your mate.His face darkens. "I don't want to talk about that right now," he insists as he kisses me again, this time with more need. "I want you, I want my mate. And I need you to be mine, now. Not just because I want you, but becaus
[Ashlynd]I am dying. I know I am dying because I can feel the life draining from my body as the blood flows from my wounds, wounds that were inflicted by the love of my life and my darling sister, his mate.Seeing them run after one another, initiating their mating ritual, covered in my blood is not how I expected my wedding day to end.If only I hadn't been born a witch. Today would have been magical when Slate and I finally found one another, joining as man and wife. It would have been the beginning of a beautiful life together. But instead, my sister and the rest of the rebellious pack attacked and took everything important away from me in one deft move. When she bit the rings from my hand, I could no longer feel his heart, how in those moments as the spell started to take hold, he both pitied and hated me. The spell to make him my familiar, my witch's pet. would have forced him to be loyal and faithful and do what I wanted without complaint.It would have been as if I were the
[Thirty minutes earlier][Roderick]I should have never come here. I should have stayed in my swamp. Wolves and witches are dying all around me, terrified as they watch my illusion unfold around them. This is why others cannot use my power. This is why we stay far, far away from all of this. When a wolf like me interferes, when we join the fight, it often causes more harm than help. We intended to scare the witches, but a spell like this does not discriminate. Everyone in the area is affected, including the wolves who are little more than prisoners. Rushing from their seats, they may run towards the shelter of the auditorium. Those who were sitting closer to the front almost trample the ones towards the back as they make a mad dash to escape. The Beta and her team move forward, eliminating as many witches as they can. Unfortunately, the wolves in the audience are not in control of their bodies, the spell holding them captive is. And right now the remaining witches are terrified
[Hyacinth] By having a one-night stand with a wolf that is not my mate, I committed adultery against my future mate and husband, even if I don’t know him yet. Sex outside of the mate bond is a sin for wolves in my pack. We mate for life, “gifted” as we are by the Moon Goddess with one perfect mate made just for us. I’ve always thought this idea is ridiculous. Shouldn’t we be able to choose who we love and who we make love to? Maybe I only think this way because I know I’ll never have a mate. You need to have a wolf to have a mate and I don’t have one. Nobody knows why. Most people just say I’m cursed. This is why I knew I was in serious trouble when I woke up in a room with a large, strong, masculine arm draped across my chest. As if dumped into an ice-cold pool of water, I fear I already know what happened last night. Picking myself up off the floor, I say a silent prayer to the Moon Goddess, grateful that the stranger didn’t wake to see my shame as I wrap myself up in the