“Well, that talk went badly.” Haden entered the bedroom and put his phone to charge. His features reflected his stormy mood. “What? What? What? Sorry, I was trying to work on these numbers. Who were you talking to, and how did it go badly?” Janine lay on the sofa with her feet up and a laptop on her lap. She was frowning at the screen when Haden stomped in and made his announcement. “I did as you asked me to do. I called my daughter again and told her what was going to happen after I called my Beta to set up going there to hand the pack off to Micheal is it my fault? She didn’t mate with him, but with a human? She’s not stupid. She knows a human can’t run a pack. That’s like asking a house cat to lead a pack of wild dogs. It just wouldn’t work.” Haden came to stand near Janine’s shoulders and frowned at the screen as if his expression would intimidate the numbers into righting themselves. “Check the fourth column again. I think you’ll find the error there. I
Asia sat on the plane as it touched down on the tarmac a few miles from her territory. Thomas softly snored beside her. She marvelled at his ability to sleep while they travelled. That was something she didn’t have the luxury of. So, she sat there tired, wracking her brain for the words she’d tell her pack about the huge shake up that was coming everyone’s way. That wasn’t fully true. April would have spread the announcement before this. Asia would just have to explain why she was doing this. The old guard would worry about losing their distinct culture. A culture Asia no longer accepted. It was too radical and didn’t fit with the times. It formed from the need for female identity. In this day and age, it wasn’t needed. Women could stand on their own pretty much throughout the human world and the supernatural. Excluding men from the power structure only proved Asia’s point. That point was that when you limit a group of people from a particular role or job, you l
Eva couldn’t believe she was preparing for the night they’d mate. It was all going to be permanent, forever, until death. Penny was at a pup event for the night. She’d have fun and not miss them because there’d be so many others there. She was too young for the finer details of what was about to happen. They would make love and in the heat of their passion, as its pinnacle, they would bite each other. Forming the permanent bond. It was a marvel how their pheromones worked. The fae added them to ensure their army would always have fresh troops. The bite was part of the wild nature and ferociousness the fae wanted in their foot soldiers. If she’d been taught the truth, the fae used wolf shifters as little more than those who would be the incidental deaths of war. They were the troops to sacrifice for the sake of fighting for an imaginary slight to their ever shifting and complicated honour system. The fae didn’t die like a human or wolf shifter. They didn’t feel like t
It was a done deal. Right there, in the heat of the moment, he’d claimed her. Eva finally lay in bed with her mate. Her mate. She couldn’t stop reminding herself of that. The night hadn’t gone as she’d thought it would. Well, the order of it wasn’t what she planned. They ate their dinner cold rather than hot. But the lovemaking and mating made up for that. Damon dozed by her side. They couldn’t put off appearing at the pack gathering. They’d be celebrating their mating, and she had to show off the bite to prove there was a mating. Thomas would also officially introduce her to the pack and welcome her into it. It was all part of the tradition when the mate came from outside of the pack. The couple needed to decide on which pack they would stay with permanently. There were no belonging to multiple packs at the same time. So much was going on these past few weeks. Her head was still spinning. She was glad Penny wasn’t here until tomorrow. Eva needed th
“You seriously want all this pomp and spectacle for two ceremonies? And what’s this about a gathering to get to know one another? How much is the travel alone going to cost? Asia, had you really thought about this? How is the pack going to afford this? Thomas’ pack isn’t rolling in money, and you know it.” April dropped several binders and a tablet on the desk before Asia. It took her a better part of the morning to get her leader alone so she could confront her without an audience. “It’s okay April. I spoke with Thomas on this, and he agrees that two ceremonies would be better, and for the gathering after each ceremony. Well, if you look, you’ll see that we have different people meeting for the first time. These are the members of the two packs that will work together and make everything run smoothly. They deserve to get to know each other before we throw them into the deep end of the pool. Who knows? Maybe there will be more pairings coming from this?” “As
“Really. You didn’t tell me anything about that and there wasn’t anything in your report. You want to talk about it?” “Well, everything was going as planned and business wrapped up as expected. You know how they love to network after all is done and socialize. I was leaving after the dinner was over. You know how I’m not much of a dancer. So I was making my way back to the cabin I was assigned.” She frowned at that. “No, whatever happened, happened before I was going to my assigned cabin. See things get hazy. I tell you I was sober.” “Any males paying you a lot of attention?” “Not anything out of the ordinary. By then I’d set them straight.” “Really, but you might be missing time. Did you look for any marks when you got back to your cabin?” “Marks? No, why would I look for…?” April’s words trailed off and her face paled. “You don’t think someone did something? Who?” “Drinks are provided, or they could have drugged the food. Now tell me, who was interested in you and the mo
Damon couldn’t understand what was taking so long for the women to get ready. They’d agreed on a simple ceremony when Thomas and Asia came back. Thomas would officiate with Asia, looking on today at the pack’s gathering. Eva’s family was here. Everyone was at the gathering, but Eva, Penny, and the women entrusted to get them to the ceremony on time. There were cutting this very close, and he would expire from the stress and worry before they got here. Many watched their Beta pace in agitation on the small built up hill used as a platform for ceremonies like this and others. If a human wandered onto the site, all they would see was a large meadow with a hill in it. The grasses were often trampled, but well maintained. It would be a mystery who and why. Eva was having the best day of her life. They’d planned everything to the inch of its life and pack the day with preparations galore. Little Penny tried her best to keep up with the adults, but fell asleep a few
Sure enough, April was on the stage with a microphone. Two other women Asia didn’t recognize stood with her.“April, you’ve always been a wild one. I dare you to mate with the first wolf that catches you. By the tradition of the mating hunt, I declare a hunt for you. Now which males will take on this female permanently as theirs? April, will you accept the hunt for you?”“Crap Victoria, that’s not fair. I look like a coward if I say no. So, fine, but I think you are disappointed when no one declares their intentions.” April wasn’t in her diplomatic persona, which was odd enough, but she usually wasn’t crude like that either. Asia wasn’t sure what to make out of this.“Anyone was to take on a lifelong challenge?” Victoria waved her hand dramatically at the crowd of mostly male attendees.One male stood up and finally three stood, but when the first two saw a smartly dressed wolf at the back stand up, they promptly sat.“That Gerald, we’ll at least he’s aged well.”“I, Gerald Holt Alpha