Layla steadied her breath but it was useless. The anxiety was taking control. There was next to nothing that she wanted more than anything was to see Solomon. But it had been so long and so much had changed. She was a mother. She was in the Thundermoon Pack. She had fallen further and further away from being worthy of being his mate. All too often she had forgotten the fact true mates weren't chosen by mere humans but by the Goddess. And on the night she met Solomon, there was a full moon - a sign from the Goddess herself. She had blessed their union. It was baffling and confusing that the blessing was somehow not enough to validate their connection. Their connection was quickly thrown into question and easily challenged. Wasn't that what everyone wanted, blessings from the Goddess? Isn't that Alistar pretended to have with her? She frequently questioned if she would have chosen Solomon without it. He was an extremely attractive man. His smell was intoxicating. But would she have p
Solomon reacted to the noise before Layla had the chance to. He protectively pushed her behind himself and stood in a defensive position. Layla's heart was racing uncontrollably. Layla internally kicked herself. She knew better than to have raced off into the woods without making sure she wasn't being followed. The one time she slipped up, of course this would happen. Isn't that how it always worked?"What do you want?" Solomon shouted aggressively into the shadows. Layla clutched to him before remembering that she was a wolf. She could take on any monsters in the woods. She stepped out from behind him and called out, "reveal yourself now" with such power and authority, Solomon couldn't help himself to take a moment to admire it. The snow crunched as the footsteps drew closer to them, both Layla and Solomon were ready to shift, their inner wolves both prepared for a fight. The hair on the back of their necks were standing alert."Wait, wait, wait!" A taller, younger, clean faced
Solomon nor Simon really knew what to do with Layla. It was as if she was possessed. She kept repeating, "you are my mate" and then laughing to herself. Solomon tried to connect with her via telepathy but her thoughts were too jumbled and her wolf was too frantic. He would have to wait till she told him. He was used to and very comfortable with waiting for her. "I have to go back," she said abruptly. "I have a son!""Did you forget?" Simon asked skeptically. "What kind of mother are you?""Shut your mouth," Solomon said bitingly. Layla smiled as she gave back the cloak. "Thank you for this." She turned to leave. "Wait!" Simon called after her, Solomon growled disapprovingly. Simon glared at his older brother. At eighteen, he lacked the maturity of a man as he clung to the behaviors of a child. "I need a response. Are you coming or not?" "What?" Layla was thrown till Simon gestured towards the small crumpled scroll in her hand. "Oh, this. This is a trap, but I will go. I'm not
Anthony nodded his head in agreement. Cassias deserved more and it was his birthright. Anthony was elated when Cassias was born, his legacy was finally secure. He finally had a male heir. He could easily pass the pack to Layla till Cass was of age. It was finally the solution to his problem. He was happy to hear that Layla was on board. "I'm not going to live forever," Anthony began. "And I would hate to think that everything we have worked for will be claimed by Alistar. He is your mate. There is no denying that."Layla sharply inhaled, "Alistar is not my mate." "Darling," Anthony began condescendingly.But Layla was not having it. "You will finally listen to me," she began curtly. "Alistar is not my mate. He was never my mate.""Layla, I was there. I decreed it." "Father, he is not my mate. Decree it all you like but that doesn't change the fact that Alistar is not now nor has he ever been my true mate. And in terms of true mates, you and no other Alpha has the power to chan
Layla choked on her spit and started coughing. "What did you say?" She asked between coughs. Alistar began to pat her back to help clear the nothing stuck in her throat. She glared at him and moved away from him in the bed. "No, seriously what did you say?"Alistar began to rub her back again, "I said that it is time for another child," he said as sweetly as he could.Layla jumped out of the bed and began to pace next to the bed. "Are you out of your mind? There is no way in hell.""Layla, don't be like that," he pleaded half-heartedly. "Come back to bed, it's very late." "I'm going to be like that. I don't want another child. I don't want to be pregnant again." Layla was floored. There wasn't a moment during her pregnancy with Cassias that was pleasant for her. She was sick and bed ridden. She lost an alarming amount of blood during her labor. It would be a cold day in hell before she would agree to do it again. "Come on," his voice was gratingly saccharine. She wanted to vomit
The sun shone brightly through the windows, a very excited little boy raced into his mother's room to be unpleasantly surprised by the sight of his father. Cassias was not a fan of his father. He found him to be rude and loud. Alistar was quicker to anger and discipline compared to Layla. Cassias was not very good at walking on eggshells and Alistar had the patience of a toddler. Layla was always in the middle. Alistar's failure as a parent would be his ultimate undoing, he just didn't know it yet. But Cassias didn't care about that on this day. He had only one focus, one goal - to wake his parents for it was his sixth birthday. He ran towards the bed as fast as his little legs could carry him and jumped as high as he could. He landed on Alistar's stomach, waking both of his parents."Cass!" Alistar groaned in pain. Cassias crawled over his father and wiggled between his parents. "Wake up!" He shouted. "We are awake," Layla sighed. She very much didn't want to be. She was neve
Layla refused to move from her son's side the entire four days he spent sleeping. She did not sleep nor did she eat. The waiting was excruciating. She felt as if she could not breathe, as if an elephant was sitting on her chest. Her heart was in her knees. Her mind was frantic. Her only comfort was the steady stream of healers who were constantly monitoring Cassias. It took a total of twenty-four hours for Alistar to make an appearance by Cassias' side. Layla could not bring herself to look or speak to him. They sat in awkward silence. It was the hardest thing she had ever done. Every fiber of her being wanted to tear into him, rip him piece by piece, but she held back. To distract herself, she counted the number of times Cassias' chest rose and fell from breathing. He looked so peaceful and beautiful, it was a surreal sight. She knew that he was fighting for his life. His right arm was broken. There were still no answers but Layla knew that he was too young to shift. His body cou
The date of Balthazar Riverwalker's birthday banquet and hunt was quickly approaching. Layla split her focus from Cassias' recovery to preparing for the banquet. Alistar was dead to her. He tried to talk to her but she would turn away. He tried to hold her hand and she would move her hand away. She replaced Javier with one of her father's men and forbade Alistar from her room. The tension between the two was felt by every member of the household. Life had become a series of eggshells that everyone was forced to walk on. Layla would have kept appearances up but Alistar had killed the part of her that cared when he returned with a bloody unconscious Cassias. He still refused to give any straight answers to anyone who inquired. Layla had hoped that he would eventually leave. The colder she was towards him, the more she pushed him away, the more likely it would be that he would just go away. But it had been almost two weeks and he was still there. She wondered what she had to do to get