[Slate] It felt good to be walking next to her again, our footsteps finding a natural rhythm. I didn't realize how much I missed our afternoons together, and our lunch meetings. She has a sharp intellect and child-like humor that always makes spending time with her, even if we are doing nothing at all, pleasurable. Ash had demanded that I stop meeting with Cindy alone after I came back and proposed to her with my mother's ring. I had been heartbroken over seeing the doctor kiss Drew and believed Ash's lies that Cindy was someone to play around with other's hearts only to watch them suffer. It was easy to believe with the way my heart was hurting at that moment. I know I shouldn't feel anything for this woman, but I cannot help myself. I cannot keep myself from having feelings about her, even if I know it isn't a good idea. Her apple blossom and anise scent soothes me and my wolf, as we find joy in just being near her. We have never felt this way about Ash, not even once. While I wo
[Hyacinth] "Cindy, are you sure," Slate looks concerned. Very concerned. "What makes you think it is insanity and not something else?" "Well I have been under a lot of stress lately," I start to ramble, "and some of the things I'm hearing and seeing and remembering make no sense. My best explanation is that none of it is real, except in my mind." He looks at me as he quietly holds my hand, his thumb brushing my knuckles absently. "But what if it is something else, something incredible, something a lot better than going insane," he takes a moment to bring his hand to his nose and take a deep sniff. "What if you are finally getting your wolf?" I try to think back to when Bash started manifesting his wolf. Did the voice come first, or were there other signs? "When you talk to your wolf, does it respond?" I ask, "Because this voice never does. It's more like a blurt here and a blurt there, more like the things I don't want to say out loud than a separate personality." "Sage doesn't
[Slate] “Why did I do that!? Why did I kiss her?!” My mind is reeling, my thoughts spinning as I walk briskly towards the packhouse. In just over an hour I am expected to sit at a table next to my fiance at her family’s weekly brunch. And Hyacinth will be there this time. Dear goddess above, what have I done? “The first smart thing you’ve done in weeks,” Sage grins wolfishly inside my mind, an image as clear as my memory of my lips pressed against hers. “I think she likes us too.” “That was not smart!” I argue internally. “Smart would be keeping my distance from her. Smart would be letting her go to have her own life instead of pining after her like a lovesick pup.” “I don’t see what’s wrong here?” Sage growls in frustration. “Claim her as your mate. Mark her, mate with her, do whatever but don’t tie us to her hag of a sister!” “Why do you hate Ashlynd so much,” I interrogate my wolf. “What has she ever done to you?” “Other than forcing us to marry and mate with her?!” Sage is
[Hyacinth]The large cast-iron gates to my family estate were open and inviting, welcoming me home like an old friend after a long time away. The only problem is, this isn’t my home anymore. It hasn’t been my home in over six years. It feels so strange to be standing here between the open gates seeing that so little has changed. The front of the house is still perfectly groomed with expansive well-kept gardens and long green lawns while the back is still wild and untamed, a proper forest for wolves to prowl and hunt. It is so familiar that my heart aches, remembering all of the happy times we had here as a family before everything fell apart. Like a photo of the past, my family home appears to be trapped in time, a little faded around the edges but otherwise the same. “Mama, this house is scary,” Sebastian looks up at the giant estate, his eyes wide with wonder and fear. Maybe he is just feeling my fear of returning, or maybe it is something about the vibe of the house itself, but m
[Hyacinth] Standing on the stairs, looking down distastefully at the scene in the doorway, is the she-wolf who used to give me warm hugs and make me mugs of hot chocolate when I was feeling sad. She is the one who patched up my skinned knees and broken spirit when the other kids would tease me for not having a wolf. But much like her daughter, her attitude towards me has completely changed. From the ice in her gaze to the steel in her spine, she makes me quite aware of all the ways I am inadequate without even opening her mouth. I hate how much I still care about her opinion of me, and how much I seek her approval, even as an adult. I guess in some ways, she will always be my mom, even if she doesn't want me anymore "Tabitha," I respond simply trying to keep my voice steady. Rolling my shoulders and standing up a little straighter as I pat my son's back to let him know he's safe, Under her predatory gaze, I feel more like prey than a guest, but I won't let her lack of courtesy or
[Hyacinth] "TABITHA!!!" I screamed. She and I might have her differences, but for all that is wrong about her, she does seem to really love my father. She came rushing over the hill as if on springs and fell to her feet when she saw my father, her hand pressed against his chest. I pulled out my phone and called the nearby hospital, Moon River, to have my father life-flighted to the city for care. While I gave the instructions, my stepmother was whispering something in Henry's ear while tracing her finger along his chest. I couldn't hear it all, but one of the things I did hear was "Stay with me, Henry." Tabitha wrapped herself around him like a blanket wouldn't allow anyone near him. I was about to ask Slate to forcibly remove her so that I could examine him when we finally heard the helicopter in the distance. Thankfully, by the time the paramedics loaded him onto the gurney, his heart was still beating, although erratically. I felt so helpless, not only as a daughter but as a p
[Hyacinth] "His daughter," my heart bubbles over with hope upon hearing this news. "You wouldn't by chance have his current address and phone number? The pack seems to have lost his contact information and I have a few cases I'd like his help with," I explain, not quite telling the whole truth but not quite lying either. "That is if he'd be open to hearing from a new doctor from his old hometown." Her smile brightens. "Oh yes, I have all of his contact information." She then points towards the main desk. "I can get it for you if you can wait a few minutes. I left my phone at the nurse's station." Nodding enthusiastically, I watch her walk out and head back toward the nurses' station at the end of the hall. While I am sad that it took my father to fall ill for me to get this information, I almost feel like the Moon Goddess herself is on my side by guiding me to such a good lead. What are the odds that the daughter of the man I have been searching for is my father’s nurse? I have neve
[Slate]“I asked a question, Slate, and I demand an answer,” Ash is stomping her feet while holding the door open, “Now!”“What am I doing?” I question myself internally. “You’re claiming our mate,” Sage insists. “But she doesn’t have a wolf, not yet, how can she be our mate?” I interrogate my wolf. “What we are feeling isn’t the mate pull.”“Maybe it is,” Sage suggests. “But maybe it is just weak because her wolf isn’t ready yet.”“But what if we’re wrong?” I insist. What if I’m wrong? What if I've been wrong this whole time?My hands fall to my sides as I slowly stand to face Ashlynd. The expression in her eyes is anger and something else, disbelief--as if this scenario isn’t just offensive, and upsetting, but impossible. "Let's talk about this outside," I insist. Looking back at their father lying prone in the bed behind us. "This is not the place for this conversation.""We're going to talk here and now," she stomps her feet again like a whining child, her face red and puffy w