With Warwick resting on my hip, and my other hand in Deimos’s I look around our apartment one last time. It was our home for more than a year, and I’ve grown oddly attached to it. “Where going, mama?” Deimos asks.I look down at my one-year-old who isn’t behaving like other one-year-olds and smile at him. “We’re going home.”“This home.”“No kid,” Edric says from the doorway. “This isn’t our home anymore. I build us a better home.”“Hellooo,” Cedric calls from the living room, his voice echoing in the empty apartment. “One last time for good luck.”I start laughing and let Edric take Deimos before we leave our bedroom for the last time.Cedric and Stephen waits for us in the living room surrounded by their three pups. They took to parenthood like ducks take to water, and soon after the pups arrived, Cedric resigned as Edric’s Gamma. “Are you sure?” Edric asked.“Yes,” Cedric replied, beaming at Edric. “It’s all I want now.”“You don’t just want paternity leave?” Edric joked. “Reconsid
Abbadon's POV For ten years, I managed to stay away from Maya, and then I couldn’t stand it anymore. I left my home in Greece and went back. I watched her from afar, my heart screaming out to her, but knowing I couldn’t interfere. She needed her peace, and she found it. She was happy, living a life of domestic bliss with her mate and their mini-pack of eight pups. Deimos grew into an admirable young Alpha, and I felt her sadness on the day he left to take his place as Silver Springs’ leader. He was loved and respected. He visited his parents every chance he got until he stepped down as Alpha and was never seen again. Warwick took the throne on his twenty-fifth birthday. Edric was happy to retire. He was a good king and dragged his tribe into the twenty-first century whether they liked it or not, but he never wanted the job. He was at his happiest when his children and grandchildren surrounded him. Their third child, a boy named Joshua, returned to Mountain Fire when he was twenty.
“What are you doing here, rogue?” A man growls in my ear. “Do you not know this is Mountain Fire territory?” “Mountain Fire,” I snort out, trying my best not to laugh. “Where do you get these names?” Staring at myself in the filthy mirror behind the bar, I try my best to avoid making eye contact with the werewolf on my left. He is a block of a man, with hands big enough to crush my skull without even trying I, on the other hand, am small and my wolf timid. We didn’t exactly flourish during our childhood, and most of the time she hides away in fear, though I sometimes think she’s more afraid of me than other wolves. “What did you say?” A low rumble vibrates in his chest. Now me, I never growl, and I never shift into wolf form – except on the full moon, when I can’t control the shift. That’s when my wolf breaks out and runs free. I suppose she deserves it. Letting her out once a month probably isn’t too much to ask, considering that she heals me
“Is it her?” My eyes snap open. I look around, confused. Where am I? What time is it? Then I remember the two werewolves from the pub, and getting into the Beta’s car. After that, I can’t remember much, except that I fell asleep. I guess we have reached our destination. And they just left me here in the car. Alone. A slow grin spreads across my face as I lean over and grab my pack before opening the door. The loud click of the latch echoes through the woods, and the two werewolves turn to look at the car. I quickly close my eyes and pretend to be asleep. When I dare to peak at them again, I see the tall blonde one, Luca, looking straight at the car while he keeps talking to an even taller, dark-haired werewolf standing with his back to me. Luca puts his arm around the brunette’s shoulders and leads him away from the car. They have their heads close together, deep in a whispered conversation. Now is my chance. I ease the door open and jump out.
Edric's POVI kneel next to my mate, inspecting her head wound. Blood pours from the broken skin, seeping into the ground. Her scent mixed with the coppery tang of her blood is driving my wolf insane. Taking my t-shirt off, I press it against her wound and mind-link our pack doctor, Clarke, to tell him he needs to go to the clinic right away. I pick Maya up from the ground, holding her tightly against my chest. She weighs almost nothing – poor thing was just a bit of bone and skin. I wonder when last she had a decent meal. My wolf is concerned and elated at the same time. ~ Finally. Our mate. ~ * Yes, yes, calm down, * I tell him. ~ She’s unwell. ~ * I know, bud, we’ll get her sorted out. * Earlier, when I chased her down, I almost lost control of him completely. He caught her scent when she exited the car, and he had one goal. To get to our mate. He would have claimed her there and then if I hadn’t stopped him. At twenty-five, I am still without a mate. It’s rare in our world, b
Edric's POV: Jolie comes sauntering into the room, carrying an instrument tray laden with antiseptics, gauze, and bandages. She’s busy training to take over from Doctor Lewiston one day, and honestly my father couldn’t be prouder. If my mother were still alive, she’d be bursting out of her skin with joy. Since she came from a rich family, she always wanted Jolie to be more than ‘just’ a Beta’s mate. “Doc sent me to dress your wounds,” she tells Maya and put down the tray. “My name is Jolie, I’m this one’s sister— “she jabs a finger in my direction -- “and Luca’s mate.” “Hello.” Maya gives her a small, joyless smile, but relaxes visibly, the tension draining from her face. She is clearly much more comfortable around females. My sister looks at me, and I wait for the mind-link, because it’s so very obvious that she has a hundred questions, but she doesn’t do it. “I suppose asking you to leave would be pointless?” “Yes.” I’m going nowhere. My wolf will tear me apart – figuratively sp
A young werewolf, maybe about sixteen, came by with a tray full of food. I ate very little, because these days I’m never hungry anymore. Edric tried to get me to eat more, but I managed maybe half a plate, if that. Later, Doc came by, handing me two pills, which I took without even thinking about it. Usually, I’d question anything and everything werewolves did, but for some reason I trusted these wolves. Especially Edric, even though he has given me absolutely no reason to trust him…but then, he didn’t give me any reason to mistrust him. I don’t really know what happened. I fell asleep an hour later, and when I woke up, I wasn’t in human form anymore. My wolf took control while I slept. I didn’t even know she could do that. Shifting hurts – not as much as it did the first time, but I still feel it every time. You’d think I’d have woken up when I shifted, but I didn’t. I slept through the whole thing. I look at Edric through my wolf’s eyes. He’s sittin
Edric's POV: I put clean clothes, a new toothbrush, and hairbrush in the bathroom, watching Maya’s silhouette play against the shower curtain, catching a faint whiff of her blood mixing with the water. It takes all my self-control to keep my wolf at bay – he wants to jump into the shower and take her, something I will never allow. ~ Mate, ~ he pants. * No, * I say sternly, and quietly slip from the bathroom. For a moment I consider going back down to the clinic to look for her contact lenses, but decide against it. As much as I want to hide her true identity from the rest of the pack I can’t do it. It would be unconscionable. They deserve to know what and who she is – it will affect them as much as it will affect me. For the first time in four decades, our pack may have to go to war. I didn’t exactly relish the idea, but such is the way with destinies – they’re never what we want them to be, are they? I stare off into the distance, re