OpheliaRyker stood, a growl ripping through his chest. “What the fuck is this? Who are you?” His tone left no room for questions.“He’s a dead man walking.” Jude said flatly.It was horrible of me to hope and pray that Alpha Hunter lost his life here tonight, but I did. Goddess, I prayed for it harder than I’d ever prayed for anything.Too bad Alpha Hunter was smarter than that.Alpha Hunter tipped his head to the side, his blonde locks skillfully messy. Even now, several of the girls nearby were sizing him up, coy smiles lighting their faces.“I—” Hunter gazed down at me, genuinely confused. “I thought you were going to tell them about us?” He blinked the unease from his eyes and smiled at Ryker, oozing confidence. “I’m Alpha Hunter. Opal and I dated way back when. We recently rekindled things, so I wanted to surprise her with a visit.”Ryker’s eyes grew bright with murder. The sand around his feet kicked up, “You dared come to my pack without asking permission? Do you truly think t
Ophelia “Hey, Coop. Why don’t you spark up a couple of joints? It’ll help us relax before the ritual.” Coop tugged me outside the sliding glass doors and onto the small patio. Sarah was perched on Arielle’s lap, twirling one of her girlfriends braids around her finger. The two broke into grins as they spotted us. “Fuck, I’m so ready to get this done with.” Arielle huffed, snatching the joint from Coop mere seconds after he lit the thing. She exhaled a puff of smoke into the air, “I’m practically shaking, I’m so nervous.” Sarah planted a kiss on Arielle’s lips, swiping the joint from her fingers. “After this we’ll have our own coven. No one will fuck with us ever again.” With each puff my nerves began to ease. A weightlessness settled over me, making me forget all about dark bonds and unavailable Alpha’s. Once the joint was nothing more than a stub, we headed inside. Denver had moved to another point of the circle, leaving his back facing us. I looked over his shoulder, down at th
JudeOne Hour Ago…I landed in the empty lot outside my place, feathers cascading down around me like wisps of shadow.Rage boiled in my veins, clogging my lungs until I could no longer breathe. I wanted to scream. I wanted to unleash every fucking ounce of my power until the sky cracked in two.I could still hear her sweet little voice in my ears, and I hated it. I hated what it did to me. What she did to me.My mate.My. Fucking. Mate.The girl I dreamed about as a little boy long before my mother and her sick friends destroyed every loving bone in my body.Please, she had said, begging me not to kill the sack of flesh she claimed to be dating.I stormed up to the front of my place and slammed my fist into the metal siding. It did nothing to quell the desire to storm back there and kill that shitstain of an Alpha right in front of her.Feeling like this was completely out of my wheelhouse. I didn’t feel shit! I landed another punch and felt my knuckles split this time, coating the m
Jude Her chapped lower lip quivered. “You’re a monster.” “You have no idea.” I started with Jameson, strapping him to the table and slicing the jumpsuit from off his body. He screamed pitifully as I cut his pinky off, but not as loudly as Chloe did when I tossed the bloody digit at her head. As much as I wanted to rage and tear Jameson to shreds, my work was methodic. In between the cuts and burns I asked questions about Alpha Hunter, none of which he answered. In fact, none of the coven members confessed the truth. Jameson spoke in between sobs, “I-I told you, man. Alpha H-Hunter wanted to come here for some c-chick. That redheaded girl in your coven, O—” I held the scalpel between his legs, “Say her name and the next body part I remove is your cock.” “He came here to see her. He didn’t want Alpha Ryker knowing.” I looked over at my brother, waiting for his decision. He tucked his phone into the pocket of his suit jacket and frowned at the six of them. Without so much as flin
OpheliaEven as Jude’s scent wrapped around me, mixing with the warmth of his body to slowly coax me into awareness, there was a part of me that didn’t want to wake up.I wished I could forget. I wished I could write it all off as one big nightmare, but the moment my eyes fluttered open I knew that would never be the case.Arielle, Sarah, Denver…they had been torn apart. And Coop, kind-hearted, goofy Coop was possessed. It was a fate worse than death.Trauma was a cage forcing you to relieve the darkest moments of your life, and that’s exactly what happened as I sat up in bed, pulling myself out of Jude’s hold. My stomach twisted until I keeled over, dry heaving until my eyes watered.It wasn’t until I felt Jude’s hand on my back, rubbing it in soft, awkward circles that I finally snapped back into the present and remembered he was here.We locked eyes, and I hated what I saw there.Jude, the psychopath, the enforcer who killed mercilessly, was looking at me with pity.I scooted furth
OpheliaThat day, after Jude and Ryker reluctantly left, I set about making the first of many changes.Neither one of my mates wanted to go, but I couldn’t get things done with them hovering over my shoulder, constantly waiting for me to break. Little did they know I was already broken.This was me piecing myself back together, and it was something I needed to do on my own. Letting them do it for me would’ve been easier, but it would’ve resulted in me being even more attached to them than I already was.If Ryker could bottle all his emotions up, and Jude could funnel his into rage, then I could do the same.First thing first, I tossed out every crumb of Dark Matter I owned. Every speck hidden in the back of the top drawer of my bedside table was thrown into the trash, consumed by the smoldering embers of what had once been my favorite sundress and jacket.The mere scent of the herb brought me back to last night, causing me to run to the toilet before I could vomit on the floor.I skip
OpheliaThe next three days went exactly the same.Ryker would pick me up early in the morning, always with breakfast despite me having absolutely no appetite, to take me to the library where I’d read everything I could get my hands on until my classes started in the evening.He didn’t comment on the bags forming under my eyes, or the fact that I’d worn the same long sleeve t-shirt twice in a row. Just as he didn’t comment on the slight tremor in my hands, or the fact that I was more irritable than usual.I could tell he wanted to. I could practically feel his brain working every time he noticed an after effect of trauma or the withdrawal of the Dark Matter, but he didn’t.He continued to try and take care of me though, being there for me in his own way.So long as I ate what food he brought me, he didn’t blink when I snuck into the crafting lab to pilfer ingredients for various potions and spells. It was oddly calming having him there, interjecting with tips that might enhance my spe
OpheliaA wave of nausea hit me at the sight. My fingers trembled, and not from the Dark Matter withdrawal.Dark Bonds weren’t well known. In most packs they were nothing more than twisted folklore, legends of darkness and slavery. Even now, I had no clue how Alpha Hunter knew about them. I had thought it was an infected mate bond until he told me the truth that terrible day.I quickly devoured the text, latching onto the bits of history that detailed the festering mark on my wrist.In 1492 Alpha King Archibald Westland retaliated after a Luna of a nearby settlement rejected his advances for marriage. Desiring offspring with her powerful magic, the Alpha King called forth his witch practitioners, each one masters in the dark arts. On the night of the Blood Moon, Alpha King Archibald Westland sacrificed seven of his strongest warriors to summon forth the father of all demons. The demon granted the Alpha King with magic of his own, along with the ability to bestow a mark containing pur