Marabella POV The wolves were on cleanup duty, the beast was back in the barn, and the twins were settled after feeding and hours of cuddles. But eventually, my alphas needed me.I went with them, climbing into bed with them. The doors were open, and the cold wind made the netting billow in, but I made no attempt to close them. I knew the craving that rested in Jayden’s blood, the desire in Jordan’s, and even the lingering heat in Brax’s from being bitten earlier.I felt it too. As much as I needed sleep, needed to reset after the vampires’ attack, after realizing we had made the wrong moves and given Silas the play he wanted, I needed my alphas more.I peeled the clothes from my body and went to the bathroom to soak my skin in a vanilla-scented mix my mother had made. I cleansed it of the blood and sex that had made up my day.Then I climbed into bed with them.Jayden moved in behind me. My arms went around Jordan as Brax separated my legs and lay down between them. I didn’t know wh
Marabella POV They gnashed and fought the vamps with teeth and claws, the rush of the fight filling the pack as I fed them magic. I let them pull it from me with no resistance, so their wolves were strong enough to fight the vamps who were pristine. Like porcelain, pale and translucent, their skin flawlessly white, their eyes beady, their frames lithe and quick. But it was their fangs that had my attention. They were long and snapping at the skin of my wolves, trying to get that poison of their bite into my pack. I couldn’t let that happen.I ran with Anetta at my side and the beast at my back, shoving a line of vampires back from Jayden and his team with a blast of magic that threw them into the concrete wall. It shuddered on impact as the vampires were stunned.“Thanks, Little Luna, now go back to the barn,” Jayden said in the link, grabbing a vamp between his teeth and ripping it to shreds before it could come out of its stupor. I shook my head, and my shadows fell out of me, wra
Marabella POV “You want to see the beast? Most of the wolves are pissed to get put on babysitting duty,” I laughed as we kept walking, arm in arm, down the cobblestone path. Our way was lit by torches, the smell of the herb gardens filling my senses as we did.“I’m not scared of it like they are. They think it will attack them, but that’s because they don’t listen. If you really focus on his roars, on his howls, you can hear the whine. It’s like a mating call for our kind, and his is distorted, like everything else about him.“Truthfully, I think he’s just in pain of all kinds. Physically, he looks awful; it can’t be comfortable to be half turned and stuck there. Then emotionally, he has our savagery, our craving for bloodshed, but for a single person? One he can never catch and one he hates to need? Excruciating.”“So you pity him?” I asked, and she thought about my question before nodding.“I suppose so, yes.”“Then let's go see if we can put him out of his misery.” I smiled, and s
Marabella POVJordan tucked my hair behind my ear as I tightened my grip on him. He had a strong argument, I was enticed, but I was also determined to go without the anchor of a promise. I didn’t want to be bound to any words that might stop me from getting her.“Hmm, interesting tactic. I’m going to go with no, though.” I smirked, leaning up to capture his lips with mine. He melted into the kiss, keeping me connected with him until we were both breathing hard, our breaths misting.“And why is that, beautiful?”“Because I have a Jayden. And he will get the shackles from you if I can’t. Not to mention I have it on good authority that you want my fangs in you. I’d be willing to mark you before I left as a promise that I will still be yours no matter what happens, and if I get hurt, I will heal, I will come back to you,” I said, my lips a whisper away from his, my voice soft, my fingers tracing over the lines of his clothes that hid his muscular frame.Then he was kissing me again, his m
Marabella POV I looked up at Jayden, who just smirked and circled his finger at his temple like he was explaining everything by implying Tabby was crazy, and she was, but usually it made sense, or came with some kind of promise toward answers, but this was not that.I eyed Jordan, who shrugged.“You are a Valarian, that is obvious, but the rest of you? No, that is not,” Tabby said, and I raised a brow as Mom looked between Tabby, me, and Galen, who promptly stepped forward.“Your opinion is respected, Tabitha, but when it is making my precious Pearl uncomfortable, I’m afraid I must insist on you keeping it to yourself,” Galen said in a polite, passive-aggressive way, but his deep, warning tone had Tabby stepping back.She gave Galen a respectful nod before looking over Mom again.“Enzi got a lot from you, Miss Pearl. A lot more than our Marabella here.” Tabby smiled before sitting back down in her seat and sipping her tea like she hadn’t just made everything weird.“Is that a bad thi
Marabella POV It wouldn’t work. Everything I had been resting our fate on crumbled away because we had our answer, and it wasn’t the one I wanted.“Don’t despair,” Tabby said. “I said the simple answer was no. And although correct, I haven’t known you to pick anything simple.” She smirked, and a spark started inside me, a glimmer of hope that gave me something to pull on.“Tabby, please, just tell me what I’m meant to do.”“What we’re meant to do,” Jordan corrected, and I smiled at him before nodding.“I need the beast to find Adrenna.”“So use him to find her. But adding him to the pack? It might help you find her more easily, but it will be to the detriment of the wolves. You will not be able to turn him back into a human if he has already sworn into the pack. That is the part that is not possible,” she explained, and I frowned, my thoughts racing as I chewed over her words.“So we use it to find Adrenna, then give them their happy ever after?”Tabby nodded.“But if we haven’t swor